Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals 5/21/22 MLB Picks, Predictions, Odds

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates meet in MLB action from PNC Park on Saturday.

The St. Louis Cardinals come into this one looking to put forth another solid offensive showing in Saturday’s matchup. Nolan Arenado leads the Cards with 9 home runs, 31 RBIs, 12 doubles, 41 hits and a .297 batting average while Tommy Edman has a .269 batting average and 36 hits with 3 triples, 4 home runs and 18 RBIs. Dylan Carlson has 9 doubles, Paul Goldschmidt has a team-high 47 hits, 14 doubles and a. 329 batting average with 6 home runs and 27 RBIs while Tyler O’Neill has 20 RBIs as well up to this point in the year. Matthew Liberatore will start here and is making his major league debut after going 3-3 with a 3.83 ERA in AAA this season.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to keep their momentum going after a late rally in Friday’s affair to carry over into Saturday’s game. Ke’Bryan Hayes has a team-high 35 hits and 10 doubles with a team-high .289 batting average as well while Daniel Vogelbach has a team-high 6 home runs and 14 RBIs. Ben Gamel also has a team-high 15 RBIs while Michael Chavis also has 14 RBIs and Bryan Reynolds has 4 home runs of his own on the year. Jose Quintana will start here and is 1-1 with a 2.19 ERA and 30 strikeouts this season.

St. Louis is 1-5 in their last 6 road games and 19-7 in their last 26 division games while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games as a road favorite. Pittsburgh is 27-62 in their last 89 division games and 17-38 in their last 55 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-0-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog.

I was leaning the way of the Cardinals when it was originally listed as Mikolas going but with Liberatore being listed as the starter, I have to lean with the under. I think the leash on Liberatore will be short here and all in all I’m expecting a lower-scoring game so give me the under as I think Quintana pitches another gem for the Pirates.