Cardinals lean on Wacha to upend Reds
St. Louis’ returning offensive heroes looked razor-sharp in Tuesday’s matchup vs. Cincinnati. Basically everybody else, however, struggled mightily.
The result: a gut-wrenching defeat for the visiting club. Despite belting four homers, the Cardinals let the Reds strike the evening’s final blow. Little-used Scott Schebler ripped a three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth to send the Redbirds to their third straight loss.
Trailing the Cubs by nine games in the NL Central, Mike Matheny’s group needs to regroup in a hurry. Online sports book Bovada.lv thinks that will happen, giving St. Louis odds of -137 to prevail tonight. Conversely, Cincy represents a +127 underdog. The over/under run total sits at nine.
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After his bullpen just fell flat on its face, expect Matheny to push starter Michael Wacha in the middle contest. One uneven inning sullied an otherwise solid turn in Miami last week. Nonetheless, the righty is 4-1 with a 3.75 ERA since June 4.
Bryan Price counters with southpaw Cody Reed, who’s still searching for his first career triumph. The 23-year-old fanned nine in his MLB debut, but July wasn’t particularly kind to the Memphis native. In four appearances, Reed went 0-3 with a 5.49 ERA.
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Wacha’s 5-1 lifetime mark against Cincinnati suggests a positive outcome shortly, especially if Brandon Moss and Jhonny Peralta can keep clearing the outfield fence at Great American Ball Park. Don’t be shocked, though, by a lower-scoring follow-up to the madness of the series opener. In any event, the Cards stand to claim road victory No. 32.
WEDNESDAY MLB FREE PICK: CARDINALS/REDS UNDER 9 RUNS