Cardinals vs. Pirates Saturday Pick
After a rough start to their series in Pittsburgh, the St. Louis Cardinals will look to rebound against the Pirates on Saturday afternoon. Will the Cards rebound to beat their National League Central rivals when rookie Jack Flaherty toes the rubber?
Game Snapshot & Odds
901 St. Louis Cardinals (-111) at 902 Pittsburgh Pirates (-101); 8.5 runs
Saturday, May 26, 2018
4:05 p.m. ET, PNC Park
TV: STL (FSMW); PIT (ATTP)
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Public Betting Trends
Oddsmakers from online sportsbooks currently list the Cardinals as a -111 favorite. As of this writing, 57% of the betting tickets wagered at online sportsbooks are on the Pirates to beat the Cardinals on the moneyline. This information is subject to change, however, so be sure to check out our MLB Public Betting Page for updated figures on this game.
Cardinals’ Flathery coming off dominant outing vs. Phillies
Jack Flaherty struck out 13 and allowed a lone run over 7 2/3 innings Sunday, leading the Cardinals to a 5-1 win over the Phillies. Flaherty was nothing short of terrific in this one, giving up just two hits — one being a Rhys Hoskins solo homer for the only Phillies run of the game — and walking one to go with the 13 punchouts.
The 13 strikeouts in a single game tied a Cardinals rookie record, and he’s now struck out 27 through 23 1/3 innings of work this year. The young righty likely has a spot in the Cards’ rotation locked down for the near future given their pitching woes, and he’ll carry a 2.31 ERA and 1.03 WHIP into Saturday’s contest against the Pirates.
Pirates’ Williams allows four runs over six in last start
Trevor Williams allowed four runs over six innings on Sunday in a no decision against the Padres. Williams didn’t put any runners on via walk, and he was able to strike out five against the San Diego lineup. The only big mistake for the right-hander was a two-run homer to Christian Villanueva, and outside of that Williams kept the San Diego lineup from inflicting much damage.
The former Marlins prospect now owns a solid ERA of 3.05 on the season, with a WHIP of 1.05 for good measure. It’ll be tough to keep that up all year considering he doesn’t miss many bats (40 strikeouts in 59 innings), but he’ll try to keep up the good run against the Cardinals on Saturday.
MLB Betting Trends
St. Louis
The Cardinals have had issues winning in Pittsburgh and against the Pirates. They’re 0-6 in their last six games played at PNC Park and are winless in their last six games overall versus the Bucs.
Pittsburgh
The under is now 7-2-2 in the last 11 meetings between these two teams.
Prediction:
This is a bit of a risk because both pitchers have had success, this is a pitcher’s park, and the Cardinals have struggled offensively of late. That said, I like the over. Flathery struck out 13 Phillies batters in his last start but the Pirates are a team that doesn’t whiff as much as Philadelphia. For as dominant as he’s been, Flathery is giving up plenty of hard contact and Williams’ 3.05 ERA doesn’t match his 4.80 SIERA, so negative regression could be on the way for the Pirates’ starter. If I miss here, it’ll be by a wide margin and this will be a pitcher’s duel throughout. But if I’m right on some of these peripheral numbers for Flathery and Williams then this could be a sneaky ‘over’ play.
The Pick: Cardinals/Pirates over 8.5