Cardinals vs. Pirates Pick
Are the St. Louis Cardinals equipped to handle the Pittsburgh Pirates on the road Friday night at 7:05PM EST?
Oddsmakers at sports book Bovada.lv have made the Cardinals a -128 moneyline favorite, while the Pirates are a +108 underdog. The over-under is set at 8.5.
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The Cardinals turn to Carlos Martinez (9-9, 3.56 ERA) on the mound, while the Pirates will go with Trevor Williams (5-5, 4-19 ERA). Martinez has started to trend in the right direction again after a subpar July where he was torched to the tune of a 5.79 ERA in five starts. So far in August, he’s made three starts and allowed eight earned runs over 19 innings, striking out 21 batters. Williams has been solid over his last four starts, the weakest being his last where he gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings during a 7-2 loss at Toronto. Before that, he threw seven one-hit shutout innings in a 3-0 win versus Detroit.
St. Louis won the opener of the four-game series by an 11-7 final and leads the season 6-4.
Jedd Gyorko and Tommy Pham both homered in the win Thursday, while Dexter Fowler was 2-for-2 with a double plus three runs and three RBIs. Tyler Lyons earned the win in relief after Adam Wainwright gave up five earned runs in three innings. Josh Harrison homered for the Pirates and Andrew McCutchen added three hits plus two runs.
Bet on Cardinals vs. Pirates
Martinez seems to be rounding back into form after a terrible July and the Cardinals have been on the upswing the last several weeks. Take the better pitcher and team here.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS -128