The St. Louis Cardinals are on the road at the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday. This is the first of a three game series between these two National League Central foes. The Cardinals are 52-47 on the season, which is second in the division. The Cardinals trail Milwaukee.
For Pittsburgh, they are 50-49 on the season. The Pirates are coming off a loss to the Phillies. Despite that loss, the Pirates have won eight out of their last ten games.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are -135 over the St. Louis Cardinals in this game.
St. Louis Hanging Around
St. Louis won the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday, and then came back with another win on Sunday. The Cardinals scored 7.5 runs in those two games. St. Louis on the season is scoring 4.2 runs per game. The Cardinals are hitting .247 as a team, and have clubbed 97 homeruns.
St. Louis is led in offense by Alec Burleson and Masyn Winn. Burleson is hitting just shy of .300 on the season. Winn is at .288. Burleson is second on the team with 17 homeruns, which is one behind Nolan Gorman.
Andre Pallante will get the nod for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is 4-4 on the season, with a 4.21 earned run average. Pallante has not thrown since July 10th against Kansas City. In that start, he went 6.1 innings, allowing 6 hits and 4 runs.
Surging Pittsburgh Pirates
Despite getting shut-out on Sunday, the Pirates had won six straight games, and scored 32 total runs during those games. On the season, Pittsburgh is at 4.2 runs per game, which is 19th in all of baseball. Pittsburgh’s team batting average is at .233 on the season. The Pirates are 21st with 101 homeruns hit.
Pittsburgh’s top offensive threats have been Bryan Reynolds, with a .290 average, and also 18 homeruns on the season. O’Neill Cruz and Andrew McCutchen are next on the team with 15 and 13 homeruns respectively.
Mitch Keller will throw for Pittsburgh. Keller leads the Pirates staff in wins. This will be his 20th start of the season. He is 10-5, with a 3.46 earned run average. The right hander has struck out 105 batters, and walked just 30 on the season so far.
Cardinals Top Pirates
This is the start of a big series in the National League Central. Both teams are needing wins to try to put some pressure on the first place Milwaukee Brewers. Pittsburgh has a ton of momentum, but St. Louis has played good baseball for several months now. When push comes to shove, we like the Cardinals to win their third straight game here. The Cardinals bats get going and knock out Kellar and win the game. Our final bet is the St. Louis Cardinals +115 over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
