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The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds square off on Sunday with first pitch set for 1:40 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, OH and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Cardinals All-Star Miles Mikolas (7-7, 2.54 ERA) will get the ball for St. Louis. Meanwhile, the Reds have activated Tyler Mahle (3-7, 4.48 ERA) from the injured list, and he will make his first start since July 2 today.
The Cardinals (51-45) claimed victory Saturday behind Paul Goldschmidt’s 300th career home run as well as a dinger from Tyler O’Neill. The top five hitters in St. Louis’ lineup went 10-for-23 with six runs in the 6-3 victory. In his last 34 games, Goldschmidt is batting .344 with 10 homers, 27 RBIs and 25 runs scored. Mikolas, a late add to the NL All-Star team last week, has pitched to a 1.98 ERA over his past eight starts. He faced the Reds at home on July 16 and allowed only three hits and one run over seven innings in a Cardinals win.
Only the Nationals and A’s have a worse record in the majors than the Reds (35-58). However, if you take out their 3-22 start to the season, they are a halfway respectable 32-36. The Reds are obvious sellers this year, and teams across the league will have their eyes on this game to watch a couple of Cincinnati’s more attractive trade pieces — Mahle and Brandon Drury. Mahle spent a few weeks on the IL with a right shoulder strain. He had a 2.58 ERA over his last seven starts before heading to the injured list. Drury, who had two RBIs in Saturday’s loss, has an .854 OPS and 18 homers this season.
Cardinals vs. Reds
Pitchers: Miles Mikolas vs. Tyler Mahle
First pitch: 1:40 p.m. ET
Cardinals local broadcast: Bally Sports Midwest
Reds local broadcast: Bally Sports Ohio
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Cardinals -1.5 (+100)
Run total: 9.5
Moneyline odds: Cardinals -155, Reds +135
Moneyline pick: Cardinals -155
It can be a little scary for a starting pitcher when a team sees him for a second time in short order. Such is the case for Mikolas today. But with Mahle likely on a bit of a pitch count today, the Cardinals should beat up on the Reds’ bullpen and win this rubber match.
Player prop pick: Paul Goldschmidt OVER 0.5 RBIs (+105)
Goldy has performed well against plenty of good pitchers, and Mahle is no exception. He is 9-for-26 in his career against the right-hander. With Dylan Carlson hitting well recently and Tyler O’Neill showing signs of life amid what has been a forgettable season thus far, they should be able to set the table and give Goldschmidt some RBI opportunities this afternoon.
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