In this article we will formulate a Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals prediction for this MLB game on Tuesday, July 23rd at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Let’s take a look at the prediction for game two in the series.
Pirates Trying to Start a New Streak
The Pittsburgh Pirates are 51-49 this season and they have won seven of their last eight games. Pittsburgh won the first game in this series by a score of 2-1 on Monday night. Prior to this series, the Pirates won two out of three against the Phillies, swept the White Sox in three games, and won two out of three against the Brewers. Pittsburgh is 9-2 in their last 11 games and they are third in the NL Central.
The Pittsburgh pitching staff has a 3.83 ERA, a 1.28 WHIP, and a .247 opponent batting average. The Pirates offense has scored 416 runs with a .233 batting average and a .300 on base percentage. Oneil Cruz is batting .252 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI’s for the Pirates this season. Pittsburgh has scored at least four runs in five of their last seven games.
Cardinals Hoping to Stay in Second
The St. Louis Cardinals are 52-48 this year and they have won two of their last three games. St. Louis lost the first game in this series on Monday night and they only scored one run in the loss. Prior to this series, the Cardinals split four games with the Cubs, lost both games against the Royals, and won three out of four against the Nationals. St. Louis is 4-6 in their last ten games and they are second in the NL Central, one game ahead of Pittsburgh.
The St. Louis pitching staff has a 3.97 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP, and a .251 opponent batting average. The Cardinals offense has scored 416 runs with a .246 batting average and a .310 on base percentage. Nolan Gorman is batting .206 with 19 home runs and 50 RBI’s for the Cardinals this season. St. Louis has scored at least five runs in four of their last seven games.
Starting Pitchers
The projected starting pitcher for Pittsburgh is Paul Skenes, who is 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP over 66.1 innings pitched this season. Skenes has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four straight starts. The projected starting pitcher for St. Louis is Lance Lynn, who is 5-4 with a 4.39 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP over 96.1 innings pitched this year. Lynn has allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of his last four starts, but did allow 10 earned runs two starts ago against the Nationals.
Why the Pirates will beat the Cardinals
- The Pirates have won seven of their last eight games.
- The Cardinals have lost each of their last four games at PNC Park against NL Central opponents that held a winning record.
- The Pirates have covered the run line in each of their last six games against NL Central opponents following a home win.
- The Cardinals have failed to cover the run line in five of their last six night games against NL Central opponents that held a winning record.
- The Cardinals have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three night games against NL Central opponents.
Why the Cardinals will beat the Pirates
- The Pirates have lost four of their last five games as home favorites following a home win.
- The Cardinals have won four of their last five games as underdogs against the Pirates following a road loss.
- The Cardinals have covered the run line in each of their last six road games.
- The Pirates have failed to cover the run line in seven of their last eight games as favorites against NL Central opponents.
Total Runs Facts
- Each of the Cardinals’ last four games as underdogs have gone UNDER the total runs line.
- Six of the Pirates’ last seven night games against NL Central opponents have gone OVER the total runs line.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Cardinals’ last 10 games as underdogs against NL Central opponents.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the last 10 games between the Cardinals and Pirates.
Pittsburgh Pirates Player Prop Facts
- Oneil Cruz has recorded at least one RBI in each of his last four appearances in night games against NL teams that held a winning record.
- Bryan Reynolds has recorded at least one Single in each of the Pirates’ last six night games against opponents that held a winning record.
- Rowdy Tellez has recorded at least one total base in each of his last 11 appearances with the Pirates as favorites against NL opponents.
- Andrew McCutchen has recorded a Double in each of the Pirates’ last three games as favorites.
- Jack Suwinski has hit a home run in each of the Pirates’ last three Tuesday games against opponents that held a winning record.
- Rowdy Tellez has recorded at least one hit in each of his last 11 appearances with the Pirates as favorites against NL opponents.
- Andrew McCutchen has scored at least one run in each of his last seven appearances with the Pirates as favorites against the Cardinals.
St. Louis Cardinals Player Prop Facts
- Willson Contreras has recorded at least one hit in each of the Cardinals’ last 10 night games.
- Matt Carpenter has hit a home run in four of his last five appearances at PNC Park against NL Central opponents that held a winning record.
- Matt Carpenter has scored at least one run in each of his last five appearances at PNC Park against opponents that held a winning record.
- Lance Lynn has recorded a win in three of his last four appearances.
- Alec Burleson has recorded at least one RBI in nine of the Cardinals’ last 10 games against opponents that held a winning record.
- Brandon Crawford has recorded a Double in each of his last three appearances with the Cardinals as road underdogs.
- Alec Burleson has recorded at least one Single in each of the Cardinals’ last six road games.
- Willson Contreras has recorded at least one total base in each of the Cardinals’ last 10 night games.
- Lance Lynn has recorded five or more strikeouts in each of his last seven appearances with his team as an underdog against NL Central opponents.
Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction
Pittsburgh comes into this game as one of the hottest teams in the MLB right now and they are just one game behind St. Louis for second in the NL Central. The Pirates are 25-25 at home, while the Cardinals are 26-26 on the road. St. Louis hasn’t played their best over the last two weeks, but they are still playing much better than they did to start the season. Pittsburgh is starting the rookie phenom Paul Skenes, who has been absolutely electric so far this year. St. Louis is going with Lance Lynn, who has actually done a serviceable job, but I can’t trust him to out duel Skenes. I think we are going to see another lower scoring game here, so my Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals prediction is for this game to go under the total.