Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (17-19) vs Pittsburgh Pirates (12-24)
Time: 6:45pm CT Tuesday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Matthew Liberatore (2-3, 3.44 ERA) vs Paul Skenes (3-3, 2.74 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Pirates -118, Cardinals -102
Total: 7 (over -118, under -102)
Cardinals Face Skenes
The St. Louis Cardinals go for their fourth straight win when they take on the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight at Busch Stadium.
The Pirates have dropped five in a row and eight of their last nine, and they’ll send their ace to the mound tonight in Paul Skenes in a fascinating matchup with Cards lefty Matthew Liberatore.
Libby Looking Good
Liberatore unfortunately had his last start cut short because of rain, but he has been terrific to begin the season with a 3.44 ERA that is backed by excellent underlying numbers with a 2.94 xERA, 2.33 FIP, and 2.90 xFIP. Liberatore has been dominant in his three home starts with a 2-0 record, 2.00 ERA, and 0.83 WHIP.
The Cardinals have two hitters heating up in May that were cold in April in Willson Contreras and Alec Burleson. Contreras is 10-for-22 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI over his last six games. Burleson has homered in two straight games, and he’s 5-for-12 (.417 average) lifetime against Skenes.
Skenes Faces Nemesis
Skenes has been the losing pitcher only six times in his MLB career, and three of those losses have come against the Redbirds. The young right-hander gave up a career-high 5 runs in a 5-3 loss to the Cards back on April 8th.
Skenes hasn’t been quite as dominant this season as compared to last season, as he’s actually averaging under a strikeout per inning (41 K’s in 42.2 innings). The Cubs got to him in his last outing for 3 runs in 5 innings with Skenes notching just 2 punchouts.
UPDATE - My Pick
I originally just leaned Cardinals on the moneyline, but my co-host on Domesticated Gamblers Shawn Surwillo suggested the NRFI as a good play for this one - and I agree.
What's a NRFI you might be asking?
It stands for No Runs First Inning - and it's one of the greatest sweats in all of sports betting.
We have two starting pitchers here that have excelled at keeping their opponents off the board in the first inning. Skenes has yet to allow a run in the opening frame this season, while Liberatore has given up a first inning run just once in his six starts.
So let's sweat this one out together, hopefully we cash by 7pm, and we can move on with the rest of our evening.
Pick: Under 0.5 runs in the first inning at -155 on DraftKings (bet to -175)
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Friday on the Sports Hub STL YouTube channel. Follow him on X @GamblingDads, and click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams. Picks = betting the game - minus odds betting to win 1 unit, plus odds risking 1 unit. Leans = no strong opinion, not betting the game. Disclaimer