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The New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals square off on Wednesday with first pitch set for 1:15 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Carlos Carrasco will start for the Mets after a very good begin to his season, and the Cardinals will send Steven Matz to the mound, who played much better after a brutal season debut.
The Mets have the best record in baseball and will go for the series sweep over the Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon. New York blanked St. Louis for a 3-0 victory last night, allowing just 3 hits in the win. Carrasco has a 1.47 ERA through three starts and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits with no walks and 7 strikeouts in 7.2 innings in a victory over the San Francisco Giants his last time out. The Mets have one of the best offenses in the MLB, and Pete Alonso (16) and Starling Marte (15) both rank inside the top six in RBIs.
The Cardinals have a three-game losing streak going into this matchup as they hand the ball to the Matz. He gave up 7 earned runs in 3 innings his first time out but combined to allow just 1 run over 10.2 innings of play over his previous two starts. St. Louis ranks in the middle of the pack in most of the major offensive categories as a team. Nolan Arenado is off to a fantastic start to his season with a .420 on-base percentage, .344 batting average and smashed 5 home runs.
Mets vs. Cardinals
Pitchers: Carlos Corrasco vs. Steven Matz
First pitch: 1:15 p.m. ET
Mets local broadcast: SNY
Cardinals local broadcast: Bally Sports Midwest
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Moneyline odds: Mets -120, Cardinals +100
Picks & predictions
Moneyline pick: Cardinals +100
Two streaks will end on Wednesday afternoon as the Cardinals losing skid will end, and the Mets’ winning streak will end at three. You won’t see St. Louis losing getting swept at home all that often, and it’s not going to happen here because Matz is a reliable pitcher, and there’s enough value in this number for the Cardinals to pull out a win at Busch Stadium.
Player prop pick: Steven Matz U5.5 strikeouts (-105)
While Matz should have a solid outing in this matchup, I still think he will fall short of this strikeout total. He threw fewer than 6 innings in all three of his starts so if he gets pulled early, there’s a good chance he fails to get to 6 strikeouts. Matz is also going up against a Mets lineup that doesn’t strike out. They strike out 7.4 times per game, the second fewest in the league.
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