Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (47-40) at Pittsburgh Pirates (37-50)
Time: 11:35am CT Wednesday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Sonny Gray (8-2, 3.36 ERA) vs Mitch Keller (2-10, 3.90 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Cardinals -126, Pirates +104
Total: 8 (over -102, under -119)
Cards Face Streaking Pirates
The St. Louis Cardinals look to avoid a sweep when they take on the suddenly hot Pittsburgh Pirates in a Wednesday matinee at PNC Park.
Pittsburgh has won a season-high five straight games, including the first two games of this series. The losses have dropped the Redbirds to 4 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central, but they still currently hold the final NL Wild Card spot a half-game ahead of the Padres.
Gray Looks To Be The Stopper
As he has done a few times this season, Sonny Gray looks to be the stopper and get the Cards back on the winning track. Gray is coming off the best start of his career, striking out 11 and twirling a 1-hit complete game shutout on just 89 pitches at Cleveland this past Friday.
Gray has dominated the Pirates twice this season, going 2-0 over 12 innings while giving up just 1 run on 5 hits with 1 walk and 12 strikeouts.
Pirates’ Pitching Leading The Way
The Pirates are running incredibly hot during this five-game winning streak, outscoring the Mets and Cardinals by a combined 38-4. And when their offense finally cooled off last night, Pittsburgh pitched a shutout behind Paul Skenes and three relievers.
Today’s starter Mitch Keller has been doing his part lately. Over his last three starts, the right-hander has pitched 17 innings and allowed just 5 earned runs for a 2.65 ERA with a 0.94 WHIP.
My Pick
Here we are with yet another weekday afternoon getaway day game for both teams. The under in the first five innings is 7-2 in Cardinals weekday afternoon getaway day games this season, including 6-1 when it’s getaway day for both teams like it is here.
Oddly enough, the Cards have actually faced Keller twice previously this season in this exact same situational spot. Both games went under both in the first five innings and for the full game with final scores of 5-0 and 2-1.
I see no reason to get away from this strategy today with both Keller and Gray in good form. I wouldn’t dissuade you from taking the first five under 4.5 on its own at -135, but I don’t typically like taking juice that high. I’m going to combine it with the Pirates to score under 4.5 runs in the game to give myself a plus money price.
Pick: Same Game Parlay priced at +100 on DraftKings - Under 4.5 in the first five innings AND Pirates under 4.5 total runs for the game (bet to -110)
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