St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cleveland Indians – 8/28/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Cardinals meet in MLB action from Busch Stadium on Friday.

The Cleveland Indians will look to build off of a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Twins last time out. Jose Ramirez led the charge with a three-run home run while Tyler Naquin and Greg Allen each had a double and an RBI. Cesar Hernandez added an RBI as well to finish off Cleveland’s scoring as a team in the win while Francisco Lindor went 2 for 5 with a double. Carlos Santana, Franmil Reyes and Delino DeShields each had a base hit as well to cap off Cleveland’s scoring as a team in the victory. Mike Clevinger allowed two runs on eight hits while striking out six over six innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Phil Maton got the win in relief to improve to 2-0 while Brad Hand closed out the 9th for his 9th save of the season. Triston McKenzie is expected to start here and is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 10 strikeouts this season. This will be McKenzie’s first career start against St. Louis.

The St. Louis Cardinals will look to rebound after being swept in a double-header against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday. Game one saw Yadier Molina belt a home run in the 5th while Kolten Wong and Paul Goldschmidt each had an RBI in extra innings but the comeback would fall short. Game two saw St. Louis held off of the score board completely, with Brad Miller posting a triple while Goldschmidt and Dylan Carlson each had a double. Kwang-Hyun Kim threw six innings, allowing just an unearned run without factoring in the decision while John Gant took the loss to drop to 0-2 on the year. Game two saw Johan Oviedo end up with the loss after allowing two runs on four hits over five innings on the mound. Daniel Ponce de Leon will start here and is 0-2 with a 5.25 ERA and 17 strikeouts this season. This will be Ponce de Leon’s first career start against Cleveland.

Trends will be updated once they’ve been released.

St. Louis didn’t have to worry about rust settling in for the Cardinals on Thursday, but I’m not so sure about rust. There’s nothing different about this being a day off for the Indians while St. Louis had to play a double-header on Thursday. McKenzie was also stellar in his debut and while every game can’t be against Detroit, I think McKenzie puts forth a solid performance here and gets the job done for Cleveland in this one.