The St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves meet Thursday in MLB action from SunTrust Park. This will be the finale in a four-game series. The Braves took the first two installments, then on Wednesday Atlanta kept it up with a shutout victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. Louis couldn’t get much going in the first two games of this series, falling 6-3 Monday and 7-1 in the Tuesday matchup. On Wednesday the Cardinals couldn’t do anything on seven team hits in a 3-0 loss. Starter Miles Mikolas put up three earned on five hits and a walk in 6.0 frames.
For the starter job in the Thursday matchup, St. Louis is going with Matthew Liberatore. In his five starts so far Liberatore is 2-1 with a 5.66 ERA. In 20.2 innings he has 13 earned on 26 hits and 11 walks with 18 Ks.
Over on the Braves’ side, they posted five runs in the first inning Tuesday and had 12 team hits on the way to the victory. In the Wednesday game Atlanta had just five hits in the win. Max Fried went 6.0 innings in the start with five hits, one walk and four Ks.
Spencer Strider will make the start for the Braves on Thursday. In his 18 games (seven starts) so far Strider is 4-2 with a 2.87 ERA. Over 59.2 innings he has 19 earned on 37 hits and 23 walks with 90 Ks.
The Cardinals are 5-16 in their last 21 road games versus a team with a winning record. St. Louis is 1-5 in their last six in game four of a series.
Meanwhile, the Braves are 39-18 in their last 57 versus a lefty starter and 16-5 in their last 21 at home. Atlanta is 4-1 in their last five in game four of a series.
PICK: I’m probably going to stay with Atlanta here. Strider had a rough outing versus San Francisco back in late June, but in his two starts since then he’s done well. Strider has 12.0 innings in that pair with just one earned on six hits and one walk. As for Liberatore, he had a good outing versus the Pirates but in two of his last three starts he’s given up a combined nine earned in 6.0 innings.
