Game: St. Louis Cardinals @ Milwaukee Brewers
Time: 8:10 p.m. ET
Odds: Cardinals -150, Brewers +130
Total: 9
Milwaukee opened this series with a win last night behind a dominant performance from pitcher Corbin Burnes. The Brewers ace pitched seven scoreless innings allowing just two hits while striking out 10. Miles Mikolas pitched for the Cardinals in what turned out to be a great pitcher’s duel.
Tonight, that will not be the case as Jack Flaherty (0-0, 6.00) takes the mound for St. Louis and Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-0, 7.71) pitches for Milwaukee. Flaherty has just one appearance this season. He pitched three innings against Pittsburgh last week. Flaherty allowed two earned runs and struck out three. The Cardinals lost the game, but Flaherty was not involved in the decision.
Gonzalez has just two appearances this season. He pitched three innings against Toronto and four more ten days ago against Tampa Bay. Gonzalez allowed three earned runs in each game for a total of six. Still, Milwaukee ended up winning both games.
Gonzalez will have to deal with a pretty good Cardinals lineup led by the red-hot Paul Goldschmidt. The Cards’ first baseman is batting .344 and has 16 home runs and 58 RBIs so far this season. Teammate Nolan Arenado is also having an All-Star-worthy season batting .270 with 13 home runs and 45 RBIs.
The Brewers, who rank fourth in homers per game this season, have a deep lineup led by Hunter Renfroe who hits .251 with 13 home runs and 27 RBIs. First baseman Rowdy Tellez has 10 homers and 39 RBIs. Former NL MVP Christian Yelich has yet to find his groove, but he, Andrew McCutchen (another MVP), Willy Adames, and Kolten Wong are all very capable at the plate. Flaherty will have his work cut out for him.
With the win, the Brewers are now 5-1 SU in their last six games. They also take control of first place in the NL Central Division. The win was the Brewers’ first at home in seven games. Milwaukee is also just 3-6 SU in its last nine games at home against the Cardinals.
St. Louis has now lost four of its last five games and they are just 1-6 SU in their last seven games on the road. While the Cardinals have had success on the road against Milwaukee, they are 2-4 SU in the last six games against the Brewers.
The last ten games between the two teams have averaged 7.2 runs. St. Louis is sixth in MLB in runs per game scoring 4.80. Five of the Cardinals’ last six games have gone Over the total. The Cards are one of the more profitable Over teams this season with a 36-30-3 O/U record.
Milwaukee is 15th in the majors in scoring (4.36 runs per game). The Brewers have won their last four games in a row and three of the four have gone Under the total. Of the three starts made by today’s starting pitchers, all three games wound up with double-digit totals.