Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals – 9/19/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction

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

This will be the fourth matchup in a five-game set between the Cardinals and Pirates over the weekend. In the opener on Thursday, Pittsburgh powered out a 5-1 win. On Friday, we had a doubleheader in store. The Cardinals were able to bang out wins in both those games, 6-5 and then 7-2. Check back all season long for free MLB picks and MLB predictions at Sports Chat Place. 

The Cardinals posted a pretty good result on the scoreboard in the nightcap on Friday, snagging seven runs on six hits. Dylan Carlson was the big hitter there with two hits and a three-run homer. Starting pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon went 5.0 innings with three hits, two earned, two walks and nine strikeouts. 

For the Saturday starting pitcher job, the Cardinals are sending out Kwang Hyun Kim. In his six games (five starts) this year, Kim is 2-0 with a 0.63 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 28.2 innings. This is the 32-year-old Kim’s first season of MLB activity. 

Over on the Pirates’ side, game two starting pitcher Chad Kuhl went 5.0 innings on Friday with five hits and four runs—but just one earned. Bryan Reynolds had a two-run homer and two hits in the defeat. 

In the starting pitcher role on Saturday, the Pirates will send out Mitch Keller. Over three starts this season, Keller is 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA with seven strikeouts in 10.2 innings. On his MLB career, Keller is 2-6 with a 6.75 ERA and 72 Ks in 58.2 innings. 

The Cardinals are 7-1 in the last eight Saturday games and 19-7 in their last 26 during game four of a series. The under is 3-0-2 in St. Louis’ last five Saturday games and the under is 8-2-2 in their last 12 road games. 

Meanwhile, the Pirates are 5-2 in their last seven home games versus a team with a losing record and 15-37 in their last 52 games overall. Pittsburgh is also 6-20 in their last 26 Saturday games and the over is 4-1 in their last five Saturday games. 

Pick: Sticking with the Cardinals here, especially with Kim on the mound. Kim hasn’t allowed an earned run in any of his last four starts, a span stretching 24 innings. He’s getting some length going as well; Kim put up seven innings with 87 pitches in a team loss his last time up. As for Keller, he’s still working out the kinks after coming back from the 10-day injured list, but his stuff is still there. This should be a low-scoring affair, and another pretty fun game to watch.