Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (36-30) vs Toronto Blue Jays (36-30)
Time: 6:45pm CT Tuesday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Miles Mikolas (4-2, 3.96 ERA) vs Chris Bassitt (6-3, 3.56 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Cardinals -118, Blue Jays -103
Total: 8.5 (over -102, under -119)
Cards, Blue Jays Play Game 2
The St. Louis Cardinals take on the Toronto Blue Jays tonight in the second of a three-game series.
The Redbirds lost a 5-4 heartbreaker in 10 innings last night, dropping them to 3-5 so far in June after a 19-8 May. The Blue Jays’ win lifted them to 10-2 in their last 12 games.
Redbirds Keep Winning Behind Mikolas
The Cardinals have been able to climb in the standings in large part because they have avoided losing streaks. The Redbirds are in danger of losing a third consecutive game tonight, which is something they haven’t done since dropping five straight from April 17th to April 21st to fall to 9-14 on the year. They are 27-16 since.
The Cardinals have won seven consecutive starts by Miles Mikolas, and the crafty right-hander will be on the mound tonight. Mikolas has allowed 3 earned runs or less in 10 of his 12 starts this season.
Blue Jays Red Hot
The Blue Jays continue to mash, as they collected 13 more hits last night. Toronto is averaging 6.17 runs per game during this 10-2 surge.
Tonight’s starter Chris Bassitt is coming off a dominant performance where he pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball in a home win over the Phillies. However, the right-hander has struggled on the road with a 4.86 ERA in six away starts.
My Lean
The Cardinals keep winning behind Mikolas, but I’m starting to get worried about him. He was able to grind out a quality start in his last outing against the Royals, but it was the bare minimum of 6 innings pitched and 3 earned runs allowed, and he gave up 8 hits while striking out only 2. In the start before that, Mikolas was hit hard by the Orioles for 4 runs and 9 hits in just 4 innings.
The Blue Jays have the fewest strikeouts of any team in MLB, and against a pitch-to-contact hurler like Mikolas, it would not surprise me to see Toronto put up some crooked numbers.
Bassitt is really tough to predict. He has permitted 0 or 1 earned runs in seven of his thirteen starts, but he has given up 4 or more earned runs five times. The Cardinals also obliterated Bassitt for 9 runs and 10 hits the last time they faced him in 2023.
With both starters having a wide range of outcomes, I’m going to pass on betting this game. But if forced to make a pick, I’d go with the over. Both teams used some of their high-leverage bullpen arms last night, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see the over cash late like it did last night.
Lean: Over 8.5 at -102 on DraftKings
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Friday on the STL Sports Central 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