MLB Betting: St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds
Important NL Central battle in Cincinnati this weekend as the third place Reds host the second place Cardinals. Both teams are now looking up at the Pittsburgh Pirates who now hold a 1/2 game advantage over St. Louis and a 5 1/2 game edge over Cincinnati. Neither team has been playing particularly well of late with only three wins in their last 10 games. The good news (for the Cards and Reds at least) is that the Pittsburgh Pirates have just been ‘treading water’ with a 5-5 record in their last 10 games.
St. Louis will start righthander Jake Westbrook who has been in so-so form in relatively limited action this year. Overall Westbrook has a 3.18 ERA in 15 starts with the Cards holding a 8-7 edge in those games. He hasn’t been quite as good on the road, however, with a 4.76 ERA and a 1.706 WHIP and the Cards have won only 3 of his 9 road assignments. St. Louis has won two of Westbrook’s last three starts though he’s not been overly effective. Westbrook has a 4.43 ERA in those games with the two wins coming against bottom feeders Philadelphia and San Diego.
Cincinnati will counter with lefthander Tony Cingrani who has been very solid since joining the starting rotation. More importantly, he’s given the righty dominated Cincinnati rotation a strong presence from the other side of the plate. Cingrani has a 2.69 ERA and a 0.981 WHIP in 12 starts this season and the Reds have won 8 of his 12 assignments. His home stats are right in line with his overall stats with a 2.91 ERA and 3 Cincy wins in four starts. Cingrani’s recent form has been excellent with a 1.53 ERA and a .0962 WHIP in his last three starts-two of which Cincinnati won.
The Reds will be looking to atone for Friday’s brutal beatdown by the Cardinals and the pitching matchup should be in their favor. St. Louis has struggled against lefthanded pitching all season going 11-15 -9.5 units. The Reds simply can’t afford to let the Cards get any further ahead of them and they should put one in the win column today with the slick lefthander Cingrani on the hill and facing the ‘hittable’ Westbrook.
BET CINCINNATI REDS (CINGRANI) -140 OVER ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (WESTBROOK)