The San Diego Padres will attempt to salvage their four game series against the St Louis Cardinals at Bush Stadium Thursday night by sending ERA leader RHP Chris Young (9-3, 1.82 ERA) to the mound to face the Cardinals and RHP Joel Pineiro (0-1, 7.20 ERA).
Pineiro will be making his second start since being acquired from the Boston Red Sox by the Cardinals on July 31.
Pineiro struggled in his first outing for the Cardinals allowing five runs and seven hits in five innings of work in a 12-5 loss against the Nationals in Washington D.C.
Thursday’s start will be the first for Young since returning to the rotation after spending two weeks on the disabled list. Prior to going on the DL, Young had won five straight games since his last loss to the Cardinals on May 12.
Oddsmakers at online wagering giant Sportsbetting.com have installed San Diego a slight road favorite on the moneyline with a -146 chalk while the Cardinals are getting +126 ml juice as a home underdog. The OVER 8.5 is the expected total result (-115) while the UNDER price is -105.
The Padres were edged 2-1 by the Cardinals last time out, as -115 favorites. The three runs were well UNDER the posted over/under (9.5).Mike Cameron was 2-for-4 at the plate for the Padres, and Greg Maddux gave up four hits and two runs over six innings to suffer the loss .Juan Encarnacion and Albert Pujols drove in the Cardinals runs, while Kip Wells allowed just six hits and one run over seven innings for the win. The Cardinals won the game as +105 underdogs.
If Chris Young can return to pre-disabled list form he shouldn’t have much problem holding down the the Cardinals struggling bats. Taking the Padres on the run line -1 ½ (+105) might have good value because I expect Pineiro to give up some runs.
