Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals – 8/31/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds meet in an NL Central division matchup in MLB action from Great American Ballpark on Monday.

The St. Louis Cardinals will try to build off of a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians in their last outing. Dexter Fowler led the way, going 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs while Dylan Carlson had two RBIs and Yadier Molina added an RBI as well while going 2 for 4 at the dish. Paul DeJong went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and Paul Goldschmidt added a pair of two-baggers as well while Tommy Edman added a pair of base knocks to finish off the Cardinals’ offense in the win. Adam Wainwright threw a complete game, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out nine to improve to 3-0 on the year. Dakota Hudson will start here and is 0-2 with a 3.32 ERA and 16 strikeouts this season. In his career, Hudson is 3-0 with a 3.16 ERA and 21 strikeouts against Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Reds will look to rebound from a 10-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs last time out. Joey Votto’s solo homer in the 6th inning accounted for the long RBI for Cincinnati in the loss while Shogo Akiyama went 2 for 3 with a double and Mike Moustakas added a base hit as well as the Reds had just four hits as a team in the losing effort. Luis Castillo allowed four runs on five hits while striking out seven over five innings of work, taking the loss to fall to 0-5 this season. Anthony DeSclafani will start here and is 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA and 11 strikeouts this season. In his career, DeSclafani is 7-3 with a 3.14 ERA and 80 strikeouts against St. Louis.

St. Louis is 1-4 in their last 5 games overall and 38-17 in their last 55 games against a team with a losing record while the under is 4-0-1 in their last 5 games within the division. Cincinnati is 1-4 in their last 5 series opening games and 5-11 in their last 16 games against a right-handed starter while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a team with a losing record. St. Louis is 35-17 in the last 52 meetings between these two teams and the under is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings between these two teams.

The Reds have been one of the more frustrating teams to back offensively this year, and Hudson has been pretty solid for the Cardinals despite an 0-2 record. DeSclafani has also been pretty good as well outside of his one blowup start against Pittsburgh and did allow just two runs in 4.1 innings against the Cardinals just over a week ago. I think we see a defensive battle here so I’ll side with the under as my free play for this game but my stronger play is on who I think wins this game and I have it available as a premium pick that you can find here.