Royals vs. Cardinals Pick
Can the St. Louis Cardinals continue their winning ways over the Kansas City Royals when these two bring the series to St. Louis tonight at 8:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, St. Louis is favored at home, as the Cardinals are getting odds of -140 to win. The Royals are listed with odds of +125 to win, while the over/under total has been set at 8.5 runs.
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Tonight’s pitching matchup has Trevor Cahill (0-0, 7.27 ERA) on the mound for the Royals to face Mike Leake (7-10, 3.34) of the Cardinals. Leake has been pretty strong all season, but has allowed three runs in each of his last two starts. He has posted 90 strikeouts this year with 32 walks and a 1.24 WHIP. Cahill has struggled in his two starts with KC, allowing seven earned runs over 8.2 innings of work. He has five strikeouts with four walks. On the season, Cahill has posted a 1.44 WHIP.
The Cardinals have had their way with Kansas City in the first two games of this series in KC. St. Louis had an 11-3 win on Monday and then followed it up with a 10-3 victory last night. The Cards now sit at 57-56 overall and 26-30 on the road. Kansas City has fallen to 57-55 overall and 32-27 at home.
The Cardinals hammered the Royals again for 10 runs on 14 hits Tuesday night. Jason Vargas had a poor start, allowing six runs in just 4.2 innings of work to fall to 3-6 on the season. Adam Wacha pitched six innings and allowed just three runs to get his ninth win of the year. The St. Louis bullpen pitched three innings of hitless ball. Leading the Cardinals at the plate was Yadier Molina, who had a home run and three RBI while Jedd Gyorko also homered and drove in three. Cheslor Cuthbert drove in all three runs for the Royals.
There’s really no reason to believe St. Louis won’t continue to dominate this series. Leake is the much better starter and the Cardinals have been able to hit KC pitching without any trouble. The Royals don’t have the offense to keep pace right now as Salvador Perez is injured. Being back home, St. Louis should be able to continue riding the wave of this momentum.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS -140