St Louis (56-47) at Miami (55-48)
When: Saturday, July 30th 2016
Where: Marlins Park, Miami, FL
Time: 7:10 ET | TV: FOX Sports 1
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The Miami Marlins will showcase one of their newest acquisition Saturday night against the St. Louis Cardinals when the teams meet in a battle of Wild Card contenders. The Marlins made a seven-player deal with the San Diego Padres on Friday that included Colin Rea, who will get the start tonight. Right-hander Andrew Cashner, scheduled to start Sunday, was also part of the deal that cost Miami right-hander Jarred Cosart and a pair of their top minor-league prospects, first baseman Josh Naylor and pitcher Luis Castillo. St. Louis followed up Thursday’s 5-4 series-opening victory with an 11-6 victory on Friday night to move into sole possession of the second wild card, one game ahead of Miami. Tommy Pham and Jeremy Hazelbaker each hit a pair of two-run homers as the Cardinals pushed their NL-leading homer total to 142 en route to their ninth win in 12 games. Cardinals C Yadier Molina has hit safely in 13 straight games, while Marlins 1B Derek Dietrich is 0-for-22 with nine strikeouts in his last seven games.
Pitchers: Cardinals – Jaime Garcia (7-7, 3.97 ERA) | Marlins – Colin Rea (5-5, 4.98)
Jaime Garcia will be making his first career start on three days’ rest, having thrown only 77 pitches over five innings in a loss to the New York Mets on Tuesday. Garcia was hit hard by Miami two weeks ago at home allowing eight hits and four runs in 6.1 innings. Giancarlo Stanton is 4-for-6 against Garcia.
Rea has allowed at least three runs in 10 of his last 12 starts this season and suffered his second straight loss allowing three runs and five hits over six innings at Toronto. Rea faced the Cardinals on April 24th, giving up two earned runs in five innings of a no-decision.
With Garcia pitching on three-days rest and getting hit by Miami recently, I can see the Marlins scoring some runs here tonight. On the other side, Rea has been pressed into the rotation pretty fast and has not performed particularly well this season for a team that plays half of their games in a pitchers park. Look for at least ten runs to be scored here tonight.
Pick: OVER 8.5 +100
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