Game: San Francisco Giants @ St. Louis Cardinals
Time: 7:45 p.m.
Odds: Giants -126, Cardinals +116
Total: 8.5
The struggling St. Louis Cardinals will start a three-game series against the visiting San Francisco Giants tonight and will aim to improve. Coming into tonight, the Cardinals have dropped nine of their previous 12 games. Over the past two games against the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis’ hitters went 1-for-18 with runners in scoring position. The Cardinals also made numerous errors in both games.
After Sunday’s 4-3 loss, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said that his team has to be perfect. They can’t commit stupid errors, lose outs, or walk batters. St. Louis also needs to hit the ball. Catcher Willson Contreras is 3-for-24 in June after only hitting .158 in May. Shortstop Paul DeJong is 6-for-32 in June after hitting just .202 in May.
To start the series tonight, the Cardinals will go with left-hander Matthew Liberatore (1-2, 6.00 ERA). He will face the Giants for the first time in his career. Liberatore made his first start after being called up from Triple-A Memphis, tossing five innings without allowing a run. Since then, in his last three appearances—one relief outing and two starts—he has given up 11 runs, 10 of them earned, in 10 innings.
On Monday, the Giants will counter with right-hander Logan Webb (4-6, 3.09) and look to get him back on track. In two starts this month, he has a 5.11 ERA, giving up seven runs on 12 hits and three walks over 12.1 innings. This comes after a May where Webb started five games and pitched to a 1.30 ERA.
On April 27, Webb started against the Cardinals and was unsuccessful. Although he only gave up two runs on seven hits, he lost the game, dropping to 2-2 with a 5.55 ERA in five career starts against St. Louis. He did, however, strike out seven in the loss.
Four of the Giants’ last six games have ended in wins. The Giants pounded the Cubs on Sunday, 13-3, as shortstop Brandon Crawford made his major league pitching debut. Second baseman Thairo Estrada hit two home runs and scored four runs in the victory on Sunday. In June, Estrada has an OPS of 1.076. Joc Pederson also hit two homers and added four RBIs in Sunday’s win over the Cubs.
In addition to going 4-2 SU in their last six games, the Giants have won six of their last seven games on the road. They are also 6-3 SU in their last nine against the Cardinals. They have not been as successful on the road in St. Louis with just one win in their last five visits to Busch Stadium.
Interestingly, the Cardinals rank 10th in MLB in scoring, averaging 4.63 runs per game. That’s four spots higher than the Giants (4.52). The Under is 11-4 in the Cardinals’ last 15 games. In their current 2-7 run, St. Louis is averaging just over three runs per game.
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