Saturday’s MLB slate brings another full day of action on the diamonds as the schedule gets rolling in the early afternoon. The St. Louis Cardinals once again battle the Cincinnati Reds after taking a dominant 6-1 win in Friday’s series opener. Will things play out differently today, or will the home team claim another commanding victory?
Here’s a Cardinals vs. Reds prediction and pick for the Saturday contest, which begins at 2:15 p.m. EST.
Cardinals vs. Reds prediction, preview
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals remain tied for second place in the NL Central with Friday’s result. Now 41-35 on the campaign, they’ll look to build from here and tack on to their lead over the Reds and bury their rival further down in the standings.
St. Louis may not be a power-hitting team, but they delivered plenty of runs yesterday without a single dinger. The team tallied seven hits in that outing with Masyn Winn and Lars Nootbar tallying multi-hit games, and while Brendan Donovan went hitless, he reached base twice with a pair of walks. It was just another day in the life given the Cardinals’ recent stretch inside the top-five in OPS and runs scored over the last week. They’re hot and might have a chance to keep that streak rolling in what’s shaping up as a bullpen game for Cincy.
Starter Andre Pallante also delivered six innings of work with just two hits allowed and four strikeouts to just one walk, a valiant effort in the win. Their bullpen can be shaky at times, but the arms held firm and limited the Reds to just a single run.
Cincinnati Reds
Meanwhile, the Reds remain stuck in fourth place among the NL Central ahead of only the Pirates. The good news is that they’re still above .500 at 39-37, so the climb back up doesn’t appear too steep even in a competitive division.
Cincinnati still hovers around the top-10 teams in OPS and runs scored, though last night’s outing does hurt their recent even more positive numbers over the last week. It was a tough evening in St. Louis as the Reds tallied just four hits with Elly De La Cruz, Santiago Espinal, Jose Trevino, and Matt McLain making contact without a single RBI on the box score.
Brady Singer went six innings with four hits, seven strikeouts, one earned run and a walk. However, the bullpen allowed four walks themselves and a couple of earned runs while ultimately costing Cincy the win. They absolutely need a better effort on Saturday, but they’re capable of doing so and actually have a lower WHIP than the Cards’ pen.
Cardinals vs. Reds pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Cardinals as -187 favorites on the Moneyline today, a stronger line than yesterday’s odds in the -150 range. The Reds are +152 to win outright with a combined run total of nine, the same as yesterday.
The Cardinals start an experienced veteran righty in Sonny Gray. The 35-year-old keeps pitching well with a 3.84 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 85 strikeouts across 79.2 innings, and he boasts a 7-2 record at that.
As for the Reds, Brent Suter sees the starting nod for the third time this season. The reliever has seen action 24 times overall with 34.0 innings of work. In that span, he posts a 2.91 ERA and 1.12 WHIP alongside 21 strikeouts. In his two prior starts, Suter went three innings in each while giving up a total of seven hits and just one unearned run along with two strikeouts and no walks.
I initially considered taking the Reds to win on the Moneyline at +152 odds but decided against it once Suter was announced as the starter. While I think he’s a perfectly capable spot starter, I don’t feel the most comfortable selecting a Cincinnati win given the extra bullpen work set to occur in this game.
I’m doing something very different instead today and taking the Reds to score in the first inning. Cincinnati averages 0.78 runs in the opening inning of games this year, the MLB’s highest mark, and they score 0.59 runs in the first inning of road games, the eighth-best average. Gray’s ERA in the first inning this season sits at 5.79 with 14 hits, nine earned runs, and three homers allowed. You can do the math there, but the answer to the equation looks like at least one first-inning run for the visitors.
Best bet: CIN Reds to score in 1st inning (+260)
Click the odds to tail!
