The Arizona Diamondbacks and St. Louis Cardinals meet Tuesday in MLB action at Busch Stadium. The Diamondbacks need a win after losing five of their last six games. The Cardinals need a win after losing six of their last eight games.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have scored 15 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in five of their last eight games. The Diamondbacks have lost 10 of their last 12 games when scoring four or more runs. Pavin Smith leads the Diamondbacks with 75 hits and 25 RBI while Eduardo Escobar and David Peralta have combined for 141 hits and 88 RBI. Caleb Smith gets the ball, and he is 2-3 with a 3.03 ERA and 67 strikeouts this season. This will be Smith’s second career game against the Cardinals.
The St. Louis Cardinals have scored 12 runs in their last three games and three or less runs in six of their last eight games. The Cardinals have lost seven of their last eight games when scoring three or less runs. Tommy Edman leads the Cardinals with 81 hits and 19 RBI while Nolan Arenado and Dylan Carlson have combined for 152 hits and 81 RBI. Carlos Martinez gets the ball, and he is 3-9 with a 6.78 ERA and 49 strikeouts this season. Martinez is 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA and 49 strikeouts in his career against the Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks are 14-47 in their last 61 road games and 1-5 in their last 6 Tuesday games. The Cardinals are 1-5 in their last 6 games as a favorite and 7-19 in their last 26 overall. The over is 6-0 in Diamondbacks last 6 road games. The under is 4-1-2 in Cardinals last 7 home games. The over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.
I’ve been saying forever that the Diamondbacks are fade material until further notice and you shouldn’t be eager to back them here. However, I’m not laying juice with Martinez on the mound, a pitcher who has an ERA over six on the season and has allowed 30 runs in his last 19.2 innings. I’m not backing him. It’s Diamondbacks and the plus money or pass.