The St. Louis Cardinals and the Cleveland Guardians meet Saturday in MLB action from Progressive Field. This will be the second installment in a three-game weekend series. In the Friday opener, the Guardians eked out a one-run victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals played the Reds this week, splitting a four-game series 2-2. On Friday versus the Guardians, St. Louis out-hit the Guardians 8-7 in a 4-3 loss. Matthew Liberatore lasted 5.0 innings in the start with four earned, five hits and two walks.
For the starter job in the Saturday matchup St. Louis will go with Jack Flaherty. In his 10 starts so far Flaherty is 3-4 with a 5.29 ERA and 54 Ks in 51.0 innings. Over his career Flaherty is 37-29 with a 3.57 ERA in 112 games (108 starts).
Cleveland Guardians
Over on the Cleveland side, they took two losses in three games versus the White Sox in their last series. On Friday the Guardians scored all of their runs in the fifth inning. Starter Shane Bieber put up 6.2 innings with five hits, two earned and four walks.
Tanner Bibee will take the mound for the Guardians on Saturday. Over his five starts this year (the first five of his career), Bibee is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA and 25 Ks in 28.1 innings.
The Cardinals are 22-10 in their last 32 Saturday games. St. Louis is 11-5 in their last 16 versus the AL Central and 3-8 in their last 11 in game two of a series.
Meanwhile, the Guardians are 4-11 in their last 15 in game two of a series and 5-14 in their last 19 interleague home games. The under is 36-17-3 in their last 56 overall.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably try the Guardians here. Bibee has a couple of good starts under his belt in his most recent pair. In those Bibee posted 13.2 combined innings with three earned on nine hits and four walks but didn’t get a decision in either. On Friday the Guardians got a solid overall outing from Bieber and the pen cleaned things up well—all things considered. This should be a competitive matchup as well and I like Cleveland to keep it going.
