Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals – 9/2/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction

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

The St. Louis Cardinals will look to build on their 16-2 rout of the Reds on Tuesday. Brad Miller led the charge, going 4 for 6 with two home runs, a double and a whopping 7 RBIs while Kolten Wong went 4 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Andrew Knizner and Dexter Fowler each had two RBIs while Tommy Edman and Yadier Molina each had three hits and an RBI. Paul Goldschmidt and Lane Thomas each had a double while Paul DeJong went 2 for 6 and Tyler O’Neill and Matt Carpenter each had a base hit to cap off St. Louis’ offense as the Cards had a whopping 23 hits as a team in the win. Kwang-Hyun Kim got the win to improve to 2-0 after tossing five shutout innings, giving up just three hits while striking out four. Johan Oviedo will start here and is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA and 5 strikeouts this season. This will be Oviedo’s first career start against Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Reds will try to bounce back after being dismantled in Tuesday’s matchup. Joey Votto went 2 for 2 with a solo home run while Curt Casali went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI to round out Cincinnati’s scoring as a team in the loss. Eugenio Suarez and Brian Goodwin each had a double while Jose Garcia each had a base hit as well to finish off Cincy’s offense as a team in the loss. Sonny Gray took the loss, falling to 5-2 after allowing six earned runs on five hits while failing to make it out of the first inning. Tyler Mahle will start here and is 1-1 with a 3.91 ERA and 32 strikeouts this season. In his career, Mahle is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA and 26 strikeouts against St. Louis.

St. Louis is 5-2 in their last 7 road games and 36-15 in their last 51 games against a team with a losing record while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games as an underdog. Cincinnati is 5-13 in their last 18 home games against a right-handed starter while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games as a home favorite. St. Louis is 35-16 in the last 51 meetings between these two teams and 19-7 in the last 26 meetings between these two teams in Cincinnati.

The Cardinals took it to the Reds on Tuesday and while most times I’d think that would illicit a response from the team that got beat up, the Reds have been far too inconsistent and way too much of a disappointment for me to expect that to happen. Oviedo’s been solid in his first two starts, allowing just two runs across five innings in each and if he can provide another decent outing here, I think the Cardinals have some value here so give me St. Louis and the plus money here.