Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction 8-23-23 MLB Picks

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates meet Wednesday in MLB action from PNC Park. This will be the finale in a three-game series. The Pirates took a blowout win in the opener, then in game two the Pirates secured a three-run victory to keep it going. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place. 

St. Louis Cardinals 

The Cardinals couldn’t do much right in the Monday opener matchup of this series. St. Louis came away with just five team hits (giving up 16) in an 11-1 loss. Andrew Knizner (solo home run) had the lone RBI. On Tuesday the Cardinals gave up five runs in the fourth inning and tumbled to a 6-3 loss. Richie Palacios managed a solo homer in the defeat. 

For the starter job Wednesday it’ll be St. Louis’ Matthew Liberatore. Over his 12 games (11 starts) this year Liberatore is 2-5 with a 6.15 ERA and 35 Ks in 50.0 innings. Liberatore is 1-3 with a 6.83 ERA over his last seven starts. 

St. Louis Cardinals Team Facts

• The Cardinals have lost each of their last six games as road favorites against NL Central opponents.
• The Cardinals have failed to cover the run line in each of their last nine games at PNC Park.
• The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Cardinals’ last eight games as favorites against NL Central opponents.
• The Cardinals have trailed after 7 innings in each of their last six games as road favorites against NL Central opponents.
• The Cardinals have trailed after 3 innings in three of their last four games as favorites against National League opponents.

St. Louis Cardinals Player Prop Facts

• Paul Goldschmidt has hit at least one home run in six of his last 15 appearances in day games against NL Central teams that held a losing record.
• Willson Contreras has recorded at least one RBI in four of his last five road appearances against opponents that held a losing record.
• Tommy Edman has recorded two or more total bases in 12 of his last 14 appearances at PNC Park against NL opponents that held a losing record.
• Paul Goldschmidt has scored at least one run in 12 of his last 15 road appearances against NL Central opponents that held a losing record.
• Willson Contreras has recorded at least one hit in each of his last 15 appearances after playing the previous day.

Pittsburgh Pirates 

Over on the Pittsburgh side, they scored eight runs over the first four innings in the Monday opener win. Joshua Palacios posted a home run, two runs and five RBI during the victory. In game two the Pirates were out-hit 9-8 but still pulled off the victory. Both Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen put up two RBI apiece to help spur the offense. 

In the starter job Wednesday it’ll be Luis Ortiz for the Pirates. This season Ortiz is 2-3 with a 4.86 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 53.2 innings over 11 games (10 starts). 

Pittsburgh Pirates Team Facts

• The Pirates have won each of their last four games as underdogs against the Cardinals.
• The Pirates have covered the run line in each of their last nine home games against the Cardinals.
• The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Pirates’ last three day games.
• The Pirates have led after 7 innings in each of their last six games against the Cardinals at PNC Park.
• The Pirates have led after 3 innings in three of their last four games as underdogs against NL Central opponents.

Pittsburgh Pirates Player Prop Facts

• Bryan Reynolds has hit a home run in each of the Pirates’ last two day games against NL opponents that held a losing record.
• Ke’Bryan Hayes has recorded at least one RBI in four of his last five appearances with the Pirates as home underdogs.
• Ke’Bryan Hayes has recorded two or more total bases in each of his last eight appearances with the Pirates as underdogs against the Cardinals.
• Bryan Reynolds has scored at least one run in nine of the Pirates’ last 10 games as home underdogs.
• Andrew McCutchen has recorded at least one hit in each of his last 11 home appearances against opponents that held a losing record.

Matchup/League Facts

• The Pittsburgh Pirates ranks 27th in the league for hits this season (983).
• The Pittsburgh Pirates ranks 27th in the league for batting average this season (.236).
• The St. Louis Cardinals ranks 1st in the league for home runs allowed this season (128).
• The St. Louis Cardinals ranks 29th in the league for opponent batting average this season (.274).

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’m going to stick with the Pirates in this one. Probably staying away, though. Much of that is due to Liberatore being on a pretty shaky run these days. In two of his last three starts, Liberatore has 10 earned runs in just 10.0 innings of work. Sandwiched between those is a win with 8.0 innings of clean ball versus the Rays. Needless to say it’s difficult to tell what we’ll get from Liberatore here. On Tuesday the Pirates really only had the one big inning on offense but that was more than enough. That makes six or more runs in three of the last four games, and I like Pittsburgh to keep it up Wednesday.