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The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants square off on Thursday with first pitch set for 9:40 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Miles Mikolas will start for the Cardinals with Logan Webb on the mound for the Giants.
St. Louis won three of their previous four games including a 10-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. Mikolas has gone off to a strong start to 2022 with a 1.52 ERA going into his sixth appearance, giving up five runs over 29.2 innings of work. The Cardinals rank in the middle of the pack offensively, and Nolan Arenado continues to swing a hot bat with five RBIs in Wednesday’s victory.
San Francisco lost three games in a row and lost 9-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. Webb is throwing the ball well after a strong 2021 season with a 3.26 ERA going into his sixth start of the year. The Giants have the fifth best offense in terms of runs per game this season with Joc Pederson leading the way with six home runs.
Cardinals vs. Giants
Pitchers: Miles Mikolas vs. Logan Webb
First pitch: 9:45 p.m. ET
Cardinals local broadcast: Bally Sports Midwest
Giants local broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Moneyline odds: Giants -120, Cardinals +100
Picks & predictions
Moneyline pick: Cardinals +100
Mikolas is throwing the ball extremely well right now, and he will be the difference in Game 1 of this series. The Giants run total a little inflated in terms of runs scored as they do not rank all that well in terms of on-base percentage or batting average as a team this season. Runs may be hard to come by in this spot, so let’s side with the road team on Thursday night.
Player prop pick: Miles Mikolas U4.5 strikeouts (+105)
While he has been effective early in 2022, Mikolas has never been a high strikeout pitcher throughout his career. He threw more than five strikeouts in four of five starts this season, but this strikeout rate is unlikely to be sustained. You are getting great value with plus odds in this spot as the numbers are a bit inflated based on early-season success.
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