St. Louis will try to keep ahold of 1st place in the NL Central as they make a visit to Fenway Park for the first time since 2008 in the June 17th Cardinals at Red Sox betting contest. The Redbirds couldn’t complete the sweep over the Pirates on Wednesday, falling 6-4 as -191 favorites.
Boston is 7-3 over their last 10 games but is also coming off a loss in which they were heavily favored, dropping a 4-3 game against Oakland at -173. The Red Sox are slight -115 favorites for the series opener, with oddsmakers calling this one close as St. Louis is -105.
Goldy Continues to Rake
St. Louis has scored at least 5 runs in 4 of their last 6 games, with Paul Goldschmidt continuing his MVP worthy season with 9 RBI over the last four games. Goldschmidt had three total HRs in Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep of Pittsburgh and overall is 10 for his last 20.
Goldschmidt is not the only St. Louis batter on a positive run as of late, as 2B Brendan Donovan has a .607 OBP over the past week. Donovan is 13 for his last 21 and is also 7 for his last 9. Tommy Edman and Juan Yepez are also both hitting above .375 over the past week.
40-year-old Adam Wainwright (5-4, 2.84 ERA) makes his first career start at Fenway Park in the June 17th Cardinals at Red Sox betting contest. Wainwright has gone 7.0 IP in three straight starts, allowing just a total of 5ER with the Cardinals winning all three despite the right-hander not getting a decision.
Wacha Faces Old Squad
Michael Wacha (4-1, 2.33 ERA) spent his first seven seasons with St. Louis and now faces his old team for the first time since leaving in 2019. Wacha had a string of two straight starts allowing 0ER (including a complete game shutout on June 6th) snapped when he allowed 3ER over 4.1 IP in a 7-6 loss to Seattle last Saturday.
Despite a couple of good pitchers being on the mound Friday night, oddsmakers have the total way up there at 10. The Cardinals offense is on a roll, and Boston averaged over six runs/game in taking two of three against Oakland last series.
Trevor Story is just 3 for his last 21 (.143) overall, the same average he’s posted in going 2-14 in his career vs. Wainwright. Story might have a hard time getting back on track in this matchup so Boston hopes that Xander Bogaerts stays hot as he is 9 for his last 18. Rob Refsnyder and Jackie Bradley, Jr. are also both hitting better than .385 over the past week.
Free June 17th Cardinals at Red Sox Betting Pick
Oddsmakers are expecting some offense on Friday night and the weather seems like it will oblige on a warm evening with a 15 MPH wind blowing out to right field. Conditions like this sometimes lead to a toss-up game, but 66% of the betting public is on the Red Sox at home.
The Cardinals have some value here the way Goldschmidt is hitting, and Wainwright has had three straight quality starts. The old right-hander will want to have a historic outing in what could be his only career start at Fenway and it should be a special night for STL.
Free Pick: Cardinals -105
