The St. Louis Cardinals started the week in first place but after losing to Milwaukee three games out of four and four of their last six games overall, see themselves a full game behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central standings. The Cards will attempt to get back on the winning track starting with game-one of a three-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bush Stadium tonight.
Right hand pitcher Kyle Lohse (3-2, 4.87 ERA) will be looking for his fourth win when he takes the mound for the Cardinals while lefty Phil Dumatrait (1-1, 3.86 ERA) looking to pick up season win No. 2, will counter for the Pirates.
Online oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com have installed the Cardinals -150 money line favorites with a 9-run total.
Lohse struggled Thursday, yielding seven runs on eight hits and five walks in four innings against the Rockies. Four of the runs came with two outs in the first inning after a hard grounder to third deflected off Brendan Ryan's glove, opening the door for four hits and two walks. Lohse couldn't get strike calls on his inside pitches, and in an effort to counteract the Coors Field factor of pitching at altitude, he abandoned his curve and tried too hard to pitch low in the zone, frequently ending up in the dirt. Ultimately, he had to come back over the plate, and the Rockies were able to sit on his pitches and hand him a lopsided loss. Lohse is 2-0 when starting against Pittsburgh with an ERA of 1.99 and a WHIP of 1.015.His team's record is 2-1 in these starts. The OVER is 2-1.
Dumatrait picked up his first win of the season his last time out, dominating the Giants with 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He allowed just five hits and struck out five in the outing. Dumatrait, who has made just two starts since being moved from the bullpen to the rotation, continues to show more confidence in his changeup and is using that as a complement to his fastball and slider. The key for the lefty will continue to be making sure his pitches are down. Dumatrai is 0-1 when starting against St. Louis with an ERA of 9.64 and a WHIP of 1.713.His team's record is 0-1 in these starts. The UNDER is 0-1.
In recent head-to-head history, St. Louis is 1-1 (+0.1 Units) against Pittsburgh this season and1 of 2 games in this series have gone OVER the total this season.
Point-Spreads.com resident MLB betting handicapper Reno Goldberg likes the Cardinals -150 ML .
