Cardinals vs. White Sox Preview and Pick

The St. Louis Cardinals, leaders of the National League Central Division, take on the defending World Champion Chicago White Sox in the middle game of a three-game interleague match-up Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.

In the opener of this set, the White Sox pounded the Cardinals 20-6 Tuesday night.Before that loss, St. Louis had won four games in a row. The Cardinals lead the NL Central by five games over second-place Cincinnati.

Chicago has won five games in a row and 11 of their last 14. But they still haven’t chased down the first-place Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.

Before Tuesday’s game, these two teams hadn’t met since 2001.

St. Louis is 18-14 on the road this season, 2-6 as underdogs.

The White Sox are a profitable 25-10 at home this season, 37-22 as favorites.

Cardinals’ starter Jason Marquis (9-4, 4.55) has allowed 8 ER and 30 H+W in his last 19 IP.St. Louis is 9-5 in Marquis’ starts this year, the over/under 7-6.

Marquis hasn’t started a game vs. the White Sox since he was an Atlanta Brave in 2002.

ChiSox lefty starter Mark Buehrle (7-4, 3.13) has given up 10 ER and 30 H+W in his last 23 IP. The White Sox are 10-4 in Buehrle’s starts this year, the o/u 4-9.Buehrle has never started a game vs. St. Louis.

In this series’ finale on Thursday, the Cardinals will send Anthony Reyes (1-0, 2.25) to the mound, while Chicago will counter with Freddy Garcia (8-4, 5.08).

Reyes has only pitched 12 innings this year, allowing 3 ER.

Garcia has been clipped for 17 HRs in 88 2/3 IP this season.

St. Louis owns a .351 team OBP this year, 7th-best in the majors, and averages 5.1 runs per game (5.3 vs. left-handed pitching). And despite being without slugger Albert Pujols, the Cardinals have scored 37 runs over their last six games.

The White Sox own a .354 team OBP, 6th-best in the majors, and average 5.7 RPG. And even though the 20 runs they scored Tuesday night was a bit of an aberration, Chicago had scored 36 runs in their previous four games.

The St. Louis bullpen got bombed for 11 ER and 15 H+W in 5 2/3 innings of work Tuesday night alone. Before that, the Cardinal pen had allowed 4 ER and 8 H+W in its previous 8 1/3 IP.

The White Sox bullpen has given up 5 ER and 12 H+W in its last 9 innings of work.

St. Louis is 7-6 since putting Pujols on the DL June 4.

The o/u is 35-30 in Cardinals games this year, 35-31 in ChiSox games, and 18-15 at U.S. Cellular Field.

The Ultimatecapper Pick: Despite last night’s big bat night for the Sox, we like the UNDER today.