Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (55-56) at San Diego Padres (61-49)
Time: 9:10pm CT Saturday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Michael McGreevy (2-2, 4.91 ERA) vs Randy Vásquez (3-4, 3.65 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Padres -150, Cardinals +123
Total: 8.5 (over -116, under -105)
Cards Look To Rebound
The St. Louis Cardinals look to get back to the .500 mark when they meet the Padres in the second of a three-game set tonight in San Diego.
The Redbirds dropped the opener 4-1 last night to fall to 55-56 on the season. That’s the first time they’ve had a losing record since they were 18-19 on May 6th.
Birds Turn To McGreevy
Michael McGreevy will be on the mound tonight facing San Diego for a second straight time. The Padres got to him last Sunday for 7 runs and 9 hits in 4.2 innings. That spiked McGreevy’s season ERA to 4.91, and he needs to improve on getting more swing-and-miss with just 19 strikeouts in 33 innings this season.
McGreevy has been very good on the road in his brief career with a 2.16 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in 4 starts.
Padres On Fire
The Padres are rolling right now with six straight wins and have opened up a 3.5 game lead on the Reds for the final NL Wild Card spot. They give the ball tonight to Randy Vásquez, who went 4.2 innings against the Cardinals last Saturday while allowing just 1 run on 1 hit with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.
The Padres got 2 more shutout innings last night from their bullpen, including a scoreless inning from their new acquisition Mason Miller. San Diego leads all of baseball with a 2.96 bullpen ERA.
My Lean
If the Cardinals are going to win a game in this series, I think tonight is their best opportunity. Vásquez is incredibly overdue to get hammered, as his 3.65 ERA comes with a 5.93 xERA, 5.32 FIP, and 5.98 xFIP. I just do not believe this guy is legit at all.
I also don’t trust McGreevy against a red-hot team, so I lean over in this game. It falls short of making my Saturday card though, as the Vásquez Houdini act has been going on for quite a while now and getting runs late against this fantastic San Diego bullpen feels like a dicey proposition.
Lean: Over 8.5 at -116 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