The St. Louis Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks will take part in game two of their three games series tonight at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. The contest, which has the Diamondbacks listed at +1.5 (-135) on the runline, is scheduled to begin at 9:40pm ET.
St. Louis Cardinals vs Arizona Diamondbacks MLB Picks at Bodoglife.com have the Cardinals pegged as -136 moneyline favorite.
St. Louis improved their record to 6-2 last night, beating Arizona 2-1 in the series opener. The first place Cardinals got a superior effort from starter Todd Wellemeyer as the right hander pitched seven strong innings, giving up just seven hits and one earned run to the struggling D-Backs.
Tony LaRussa did not see too many fireworks from his offense either, but he did get solo bombs from Albert Pujols and Brian Barden, which proved to be enough against run starved Arizona. Pujols, who now has four home runs and 10 RBI, is on pace for 81 dingers and 202 RBI for the season.
The Diamondbacks did get a nice bounceback start from Doug Davis as the 33 year old veteran went eight innings, allowing seven hits and striking out five. Davis gave up four earned runs in five innings against the Rockies on April 8th.
St. Louis will send former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter to the hill tonight. Carpenter, who pitched just 21.1 innings in 2007 and 2008 combined, looked brilliant in his first start of the season. The New Hampshire native got a 2-1 victory against the Pirates on April 9th as he worked seven innings, giving up just one hit and no runs.
Arizona will counter with flame throwing righty, Max Scherzer. Scherzer, who hails from St. Louis and pitched at the University of Missouri, will make his season debut against his hometown ball club. The 24 year old experienced shoulder stiffness in spring training and spent the first week and half of the season in the minor leagues as a result.
Scherzer went 0-4 last year for Arizona, but pitched well, garnering a 3.05 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 66 strikeouts in 56 innings of work.
Bodoglife.com's St. Louis Cardinals vs Arizona Diamondbacks MLB Picks:
St. Louis Cardinals -1.5 (+115), Over 9 (-105), -136 (Moneyline)
Arizona Diamondbacks +1.5 (-135), Under 9 (-115), +126 (Moneyline)
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