A four-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants begins on Thursday, bringing together two of the better teams in the National League. The betting lines are tight, with the Cards listed as a slight favorite on the road with a moneyline of -115, while San Francisco’s moneyline has opened at -105.
While the Giants have a winning record, they are still reeling after a three-game losing streak. In fairness, their losses the last two days have come against the Dodgers. However, they also lost a series against the Nationals last weekend, giving them five losses in their last six games, dropping them to fourth place in the NL West.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals are coming off an emphatic 10-0 win over the Royals on Wednesday. St. Louis has emerged from a recent three-game losing streak to win five of its last eight games.
That puts the Cardinals on level footing with the Giants at 14-10 and 2.5 games out of first place in the NL Central.
Miles to Walk
Veteran Miles Mikolas is set to get the start on Thursday for St. Louis, making his sixth start of the season. Mikolas has looked like a Cy Young candidate in his first five starts, going 1-1 with a 1.52 ERA while posting a 0.84 WHIP.
The only downside is that Mikolas hasn’t been striking out a lot of hitters, and the Cardinals have lost his last two starts despite his brilliance.
The good news for Mikolas is that he’ll be facing a San Francisco lineup that’s ice-cold after scoring just two total runs over their two games against the Dodgers this week.
The Giants are also a short-handed team with Brandon Belt, Tommy La Stella, LaMonte Wade Jr., Steven Duggar, and Evan Longoria all on the IL. Joc Pederson has also been limited over the last week, leaving Brandon Crawford and Wilmer Flores as the only San Francisco hitters who have been productive with any regularity this year.
Caught in the Webb
The Giants can take some solace, knowing that Logan Webb is getting the start on Thursday. Over his first five starts of the season, Webb is 3-1 with a 3.26 ERA. While he’s allowed three runs in three consecutive starts, he’s also pitched deep into games and always gives San Francisco a chance, as the Giants have won four of his five starts.
Of course, Webb is facing a lineup that has heated up lately and scored ten runs on Wednesday. Nolan Arenado and Tommy Edman have been on fire throughout the first month of the season for St. Louis.
Arenado remains red-hot, while Paul Goldschmidt has also started to come around, batting .316 with two homers over his last six games.
Cardinals/Giants Betting Prediction
While it’s sensible for the betting lines for this game to be even, the Cardinals have a clear advantage.
Mikolas has been a little better than Webb this year, while San Francisco’s lineup has been decimated by injuries. That’s enough to feel confident picking the Cardinals to win Thursday’s series opener.
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