The St. Louis Cardinals hope to hold their ground in the NL Central Division when they start a three game series at Cincinnati Tuesday. The Cards will look to rookie RHP Mitchell Boggs (0-0, 4.50 ERA) to get the job done in his first major league start. The Reds will start RHP Homer Bailey (0-1, 2.84 ERA). MLB Betting oddsmakers at Bodog (Bodoglife.com) currently have the Reds listed as 133-moneyline favorites versus the Cardinals, while the game's total is sitting at 9½.
Homer Bailey pitched well but fell victim to errors in his 2008 debut with the Reds on Thursday. He pitched 6 1/3 innings and gave up five runs — just two of them earned — on four hits with four walks and a strikeout in a loss to the Phillies. The Reds committed three errors in the game. Bailey is 0-1 with one career start against the Cardinals, in which he gave up seven earned runs on seven hits in just 3 2/3 innings. It came last season during his nine-start stint with the Reds.
This will be the first Major League start for Mitchell Boggs , called up Friday from Triple-A Memphis. He made his first appearance in the majors Friday in Houston in relief. He pitched two innings and gave up three hits and one run, a homer by Geoff Blum. Boggs, 24, was 5-1 with a 3.28 in 12 starts for Memphis this year. He allowed only three home runs in Triple-A this year.
The Cardinals defeated Houston 5-4 as a +110 underdog on Sunday. The nine runs scored caused this game to be a PUSH on the posted over/under total (9).
Brendan Ryan had a pair of RBI for St. Louis, while Kyle Lohse earned the win after allowing three runs on five hits in six innings.
Paul Bako went 2-for-5 with two homers and five runs batted in to lift the Reds to a 9-4 victory over the Florida Marlins on Monday night.
Cincinnati won as -150 road favorites as the game played over the 9-run total posted by sportsbooks.
Point-Spreads MLB Betting Pick: Reds -133 ML
