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Sportsbook.ag Line: Pittsburgh +135, St. Louis -150, Total: 7.5
The Pirates look to avoid a five-game losing streak when they take on the Cardinals in St. Louis on Friday.
Pittsburgh has been one of the better teams in baseball all season, but it is in a super competitive division and can’t afford many lapses of poor play. The Pirates enter Friday night’s game after being swept by an inferior Brewers team and they have now lost four straight games. The Cardinals, meanwhile, lost the last game of their series against the Nationals but still managed to take two in the three-game set. St. Louis has won nine of its past 11 games and continues to improve on its MLB-best record.
The Cardinals have gotten the better of the Pirates this season, going 7-6 in this matchup overall and 5-1 when playing at home. St. Louis also happens to be 21-7 versus Pittsburgh in Busch Stadium over the past three seasons.
The starters in this game are LHP J.A. Happ (7-7, 4.13 ERA, 104 K) for the Pirates and RHP Carlos Martinez (13-6, 2.91 ERA, 156 K) for the Cardinals. Pittsburgh is 31-15 against the money line when playing on a Friday over the past two seasons. St. Louis, however, is an outstanding 71-27 against the money line as a favorite of -110 or higher this season and 24-5 against the money line in home games when playing with a day off over the past three seasons.
OF Andrew McCutchen (Knee/Achilles) is probable for the Pirates and the Cardinals will be without OFs Randal Grichuk (Elbow), Matt Holliday (Quad) and Jon Jay (Wrist).
The Pirates are going to need to turn things around in a hurry, as they are still fighting to make the postseason despite having one of the best records in baseball. Pittsburgh is currently four games up in the Wild Card, but a few more losses and the team would really have to start panicking. J.A. Happ will try to stop the bleeding for the Pirates and he has been lights out lately, allowing just two earned runs in his past 23.0 innings of work. The lefty has not yet faced St. Louis this season, though, and the Cardinals are certainly capable of putting an end to his recent stretch of dominant pitching.
The Pirates, however, can do some damage on Martinez as well. OF Gregory Polanco (.258, 7 HR, 41 RBI) has been very good against him in his career, going 8-for-11 with two doubles and an RBI in the matchup. 1B Pedro Alvarez (.243, 22 HR, 67 RBI) is just 3-for-14 against Martinez, but he does have two homers and three RBI amongst those three hits.
OF Andrew McCutchen (.303, 20 HR, 85 RBI) has been dealing with some nagging injuries lately and took the day off against the Brewers on Thursday. He is expected to be back in the lineup on Friday and will be trying to snap a six-game stretch with no homers or RBI. McCutchen is just 3-for-16 against Martinez in his career, but he does have a homer and two RBI.
The Cardinals lost to the Nationals on Wednesday, but they have still played extremely well as of late and should benefit from having a day off to rest up for this series against the Pirates. Carlos Martinez will be on the mound for St. Louis and he has not had his best stuff as of late. Over his past three starts, Martinez has allowed 10 earned runs in just 17.1 innings of work. He has not been horrible, but he is capable of pitching deeper into games and may be experiencing some fatigue at this point in the season.
Two guys that are going to be excited to face Happ on Friday are C Yadier Molina (.281, 4 HR, 59 RBI) and OF Brandon Moss (.225, 19 HR, 58 RBI). Molina is 6-for-15 with a homer and three RBI against Happ in his career. He also has a double and two walks, so he has shown that he clearly knows how to get to the Pirates starter.
Moss has also gotten the best of Happ, going 6-for-8 with a double and an RBI against him. OF Stephen Piscotty (.340, 4 HR, 24 RBI) continues to be the Cardinals’ best hitter, racking up 10 hits over the past five games. He also enters this contest on a 10-game hitting streak.
Another guy who has been hot is OF Jason Heyward (.292, 11 HR, 50 RBI), who has four multi-hit games in his past five contests. The two of them will be counted on to drive in runs on Friday.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
