Pittsburgh (80-54) at St. Louis (87-48)
When: Sunday, September 6th, 2015
Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO
Time: 8:05 ET
TV: ESPN Radio: XM 186
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As we predicted yesterday, the Cardinals bounced back from their loss to the Pirates on Friday with an easy 4-1 win on Saturday afternoon. Jaime Garcia shut down the Pirates for 7 innings while striking out 9. Garcia’s ERA is now down to 1.89 on the year and if he had pitched from the beginning, he might have a say in the Cy Young race. He’s been incredible and Cardinal fans are ecstatic. That win puts the Cardinals back up to a 6.5 game lead over Pittsburgh in the National League Central. John Lackey will make his 28th start tonight and he’s another reason the Cardinals have the best pitching staff in Baseball right now. Lackey is 4th on the team in starter’s ERA and it’s still below 3.00 (2.87). He’s even more dominant at home where he’s 8-3 with a 1.89 ERA in 14 starts. The Cardinals are 11-3 in those games.
This will be Pittsburgh’s second Sunday Night game in 3 weeks. They beat the Giants 5-2 on August 23rd. Things are starting to fall apart for the Pirates after a nice run in late August. They have now lost 5 of their last 6 games and their team ERA in their last ten games is 4.19. They still have the second best ERA in MLB behind St. Louis, but they need to step it up soon before the Cubs pass them by. They have their ace on the mound tonight in Gerrit Cole. He was roughed up in his last outing in Milwaukee, but still owns a 15-8 record and 2.64 ERA. He’s 1-1 this year against the Cardinals winning at home and losing in St. Louis.
I really thought this line would be more like -120, but it’s basically a Pickem game according to the oddsmakers. Remember that the Cardinals are 11-3 at home when Lackey starts. Make it 12-3 tonight.
Pick: Cardinals -105
