The St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks will conclude their three game set this evening as they square off in a game three rubber match at Chase Field. Tonight's contest, which features starting pitchers Jake Westbrook and Ian Kennedy, is scheduled to get underway at 9:40pm ET. MLB Odds and Predictions have the Diamondbacks listed as a -130 moneyline favorite; the game total is set at 9.5 with the Over drawing -125 odds.
The Cardinals missed an opportunity to secure their first series win of the season last night as staff ace Chris Carpenter got
lit up for eight hits and eight earned runs in just four innings of action. St. Louis' offense, after starting the season in horrible fashion, continued its hot streak, cranking out 16 hits, but Tony LaRussa's squad still fell 13-8.
Albert Pujols, who has struggled at the plate in the early going, went 3-for-5 in the loss to bump his batting average up to .200.
The Cardinals, now 4-7 on the year and and four games back of the first place Reds in the NL Central, will call on veteran righty Jake Westbrook in this evening's series decider. Westbrook has not pitched well in his first two starts, but his last outing, a 4-5 loss at San Francisco, was significantly better than his first.
Westbrook, who is 0-1 with a 9.90 ERA and 2.30 WHIP, gave up eight hits and three earned runs in 5.2 innings against the Giants.
Arizona, which starts a three game set with San Francisco at Chase Field on Friday, is shooting for its second consecutive series win tonight. The 5-5 Diamondbacks took two out of three from the Reds prior to welcoming the Cardinals to town.
Skipper Kirk Gibson will counter Westbrook with staff ace Ian Kennedy. Kennedy, who has never faced the Cardinals, is 1-0 in two starts this season with a 2.57 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. Kennedy last pitched on April 8th when he limited the Reds potent lineup to six hits and one earned run over eight innings; he also struck out nine in the 13-2 Arizona victory.
Cardinals vs Diamondbacks Odds 2011 MLB Predictions:
St. Louis Cardinals +1.5 (-190), Over 9.5 (-125), +110 (Moneyline)
Arizona Diamondbacks -1.5 (+160), Under 9.5 (+105), -130 (Moneyline)
