The St. Louis Cardinals (42-44) meet the San Francisco Giants (53-31) Tuesday for the second game of their three-game series at Oracle Park with a 9:45 p.m. ET first pitch. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook‘s lines around the Cardinals vs. Giants odds with MLB picks and predictions.
St. Louis took the first game of the series 5-3 despite being hitless through six innings before breaking through with a 2-run top of the 7th inning.
Season series: Cardinals lead 1-0.
RHP Adam Wainwright makes his 17th start for the Cardinals. Wainwright is 6-5 with a 3.49 ERA (100 2/3 IP, 39 ER), 1.10 WHIP, 2.4 BB/9 and 8.6 K/9 this year.
- Last outing: No-decision with 8 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB and 4 K in St. Louis’s 5-2 loss at the Colorado Rockies Thursday.
- vs. Giants on the current roster: 130 at-bats with a .208/.259/.285 slash line, 20/8 K/BB, 1 HR and 11 RBIs.
RHP Johnny Cueto is on the mound for the Giants. Cueto is 6-4 with a 4.00 ERA (72 IP, 32 ER), 1.29 WHIP, 1.8 BB/9 and 7.3 K/9 across 13 starts.
- Last outing: Loss, 5-3, with 5 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 BB and 5 K at the Arizona Diamondbacks Thursday.
- vs. Cardinals on the current roster: 153 at-bats with a .235/.306/.458 slash line, 31/11 K/BB, 8 HR and 23 RBIs.
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Cardinals at Giants odds, lines, picks and prediction
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 2:37 p.m. ET.
- Money line: Cardinals +110 (bet $100 to win $110) | Giants -135 (bet $135 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Cardinals +1.5 (-185) | Giants -1.5 (+150)
- Over/Under: 8 (O: -115 | U: -105)
Prediction
Cardinals 4, Giants 2
Money line (ML)
Slight “LEAN” to the CARDINALS (+110) FIRST 5 INNINGS for a quarter unit because I feel good enough about St. Louis’s First 5 Innings run line to sprinkle a little bit on the underdog’s money line.
Wainwright has turned back the clock recently with a six-game quality start streak (3-1 record) and the Cardinals have won four of those games.
Furthermore, Wainwright’s basic numbers and pitching peripherals vs. active Giants batters are more impressive than Cueto’s against current Cardinals hitters.
For instance, Wainwright has a 3.03 FIP and a .225 wOBA against current San Francisco hitters whereas Cueto has a 5.12 FIP and a .330 wOBA vs. active St. Louis batters.
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Run line/Against the spread (ATS)
“LEAN” to the CARDINALS +0.5 (-135) FIRST 5 INNINGS for a half unit as insurance for our St. Louis First 5 Innings money line play above and in avoidance of the Cardinals’ sketchy bullpen.
St. Louis’s bullpen is dead-last in advanced pitching metrics such as xFIP, SIERA and K-BB%.
Over/Under (O/U)
GIMME the UNDER 8 (-105) for 1 unit as my favorite play in the Cardinals-Giants since it’s a “contrarian play” against a betting market where more than 85% of the money is currently on the Over, according to Pregame.com.
Wainwright vs. Cueto would’ve been an awesome starting pitching duel in the early 2010s and I’m feeling a throwback performance between these starters Tuesday.
St. Louis’s road-hitting splits are abysmal, Wainwright has pitched well vs. San Francisco throughout his career and he’s on a roll entering Tuesday.
Lastly, these teams have a combined 10-18-1 O/U record when these starters take the mound, a majority of the situational trends point to a lower-scoring affair and I think the market is robotically betting against two veteran starters whose better days are behind them.
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