Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 5/21/2021

The Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals meet in an NL Central matchup in MLB action from Busch Stadium on Friday night.

The Chicago Cubs will look to build on their 5-2 win over Washington last time out. Ian Happ led the way with a pair of home runs and three RBIs while Joc Pederson went 2 for 5 with an RBI and Nick Martini added an RBI as well to finish off Chicago’s scoring as a team in the win. Anthony Rizzo went 2 for 4 at the dish while David Bote, Nico Hoerner, Trevor Williams and Eric Sogard each had base hits to finish off Chicago’s offense as a team in the win. Trevor Williams allowed two runs on five hits while striking out five over 4.2 innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Justin Steele got the win to improve to 2-0 on the year while Craig Kimbrel closed out the 9^th for his 9^th save of the season. Kyle Hendricks will start here and is 3-4 with a 5.27 ERA and 38 strikeouts this season. In his career, Hendricks is 9-3 with a 2.88 ERA and 96 strikeouts against St. Louis.

The St. Louis Cardinals will look to build on their 8-5 win over Pittsburgh in their last matchup. Tommy Edman led the way, going 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs while Paul Goldschmidt went 3 for 5 with a double of his own and two RBIs. Jack Flaherty, Nolan Arenado and Dylan Carlson each had an RBI to make up St. Louis’ scoring as a team in the win while Yadier Molina, Justin Williams and Edmundo Sosa each had a base hit to cap off St. Louis’ offense as a team in the victory. Flaherty got the win on the mound to improve to 8-0 after allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven over six innings of work. Alex Reyes closed out the 9^th for his 13^th save of the year. Carlos Martinez will start here and is 3-4 with a 4.35 ERA and 22 strikeouts this season. In his career, Martinez is 4-5 with a 4.69 ERA and 113 strikeouts against the Cubs.

Chicago is 4-1 in their last 5 games as a favorite and 5-12 in their last 17 road games while the under is 3-0-1 in their last 4 road games against a team with a winning record. St. Louis is 5-0 in their last 5 home games and 5-1 in their last 6 series-opening games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall.The under is 5-0-1 in the last 6 meetings between these two teams.

I get the case that could made for the over here as Martinez was just torched in his last start and Hendricks has been brutal in limited road action this season. However, Martinez was rolling with an ERA under one before that last start and Hendricks has a 2.70 ERA in his last three starts. I think a pitcher’s duel could be on the cards here so give me the under.