Can Cardinals salvage series finale from Cubs?
In racing out to an 11-3 start, the Cubs have had no issues generating offense. Stellar pitching’s been a little harder to muster – until this week.
A second straight lights-out showing on the mound helped Chicago claim another victory over St. Louis, 2-1, last night. Weather permitting, the two squads will wrap up their three-game set this afternoon. Oddsmakers at online sports book Bovada.lv list the Cardinals as 1.5-run favorites to bounce back.
At least Jason Hammel will be keeping a safe distance from the host team. The righty twirled seven shutout innings on Tuesday, building on the momentum established by John Lackey in the series opener. Kyle Hendricks draws the assignment in several hours, and he’ll endeavor to improve on a pedestrian track record against the Redbirds (7-7). The sinkerballer is 0-1 with a 4.28 ERA in five career meetings with St. Louis, including Game 2 of last year’s NLDS.
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Mike Matheny responds by deploying Carlos Martinez, who went 2-0 with a 3.06 ERA in his final three turns vs. the Cubs in 2015. The fireballer can’t mask his club’s recent shortcomings with the lumber, though, as the Cards are 0 for 19 with runners in scoring position over the past three games. In what could be a stop-and-start affair due to showers in the area, we expect more missed opportunities to come.
WEDNESDAY MLB FREE PICK: CUBS/CARDINALS UNDER 7.5 RUNS
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