The St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds meet Thursday in MLB action from Great American Ball Park. This will be the finale in a four-game series. After a split in the first pair, on Wednesday the Reds took a blowout win. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals lost 6-5 in the Monday opener of this set, but then took an 8-5 victory in game two. On Wednesday St. Louis gave up 18 hits in a rough 10-3 loss. Starting pitcher Steven Matz put up 4.0 innings with six earned on 11 hits and two walks.
For the Thursday game the Cardinals will send out Miles Mikolas to start. In his 10 stars so far Mikolas is 2-1 with a 4.77 ERA and 43 Ks in 54.2 innings. Mikolas is 47-41 with a 3.77 career ERA in 153 games (125 starts).
Cincinnati Reds
Over on the Cincinnati side, they gave up seven runs in the first four innings of the Tuesday loss. On Wednesday the Reds scored multiple runs in three different frames during the victory. Ben Lively lasted 6.0 innings with two earned, five hits and two walks in the start.
Luke Weaver will take the mound for the Reds on Thursday. Across his six starts this year Weaver is 1-2 with a 6.54 ERA and 31 strikeouts over 31.2 innings. Weaver is 25-38 with a 4.91 ERA in 121 games (87 starts).
The Cardinals are 12-4 in their last 16 overall and 4-1 in their last five in game four of a series. The over is 9-3 in St. Louis’ last 12 Thursday games.
Meanwhile, the Reds are 9-26 in their last 35 versus the NL Central and 2-9 in the last 11 in game four of a series. The under is 4-1 in Cincinnati’s last five in game four of a series.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll try the Cardinals in this one. Mikolas isn’t pitching too badly these days. In his last three starts combined, Mikolas is 1-0 with five earned on 14 hits and five walks in 17.1 total innings. He’s gone at least 6.0 frames in each of his last two as well. On Wednesday St. Louis had a horrid defensive outing, giving up multiple hits to seven of nine Reds batters. The Cardinals need a big bounce-back pitching (and batting) effort in this finale, but I think they can pull it off to even things up.
