Texas Rangers (37-20) vs St. Louis Cardinals (25-35)
2023-06-05 20:05:00 EDT
The Line: Betting Odds: Texas Rangers -125 / St. Louis Cardinals +115 --- Over/Under: 8.5
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The St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers meet Monday in MLB action from Globe Life Field. The Cardinals are fresh off a weekend series versus the Pirates. After losses in the first two games, on Sunday St. Louis fell again in a close one. As for Texas, they played the Mariners in their last series. The Rangers took wins in the first pair, then in the finale Texas took a blowout victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals struggled versus the Pirates this weekend, losing 7-5 Friday and 4-3 Saturday. In the finale St. Louis struggled on just five team hits in a 2-1 loss. Starting pitcher Miles Mikolas went 5.0 innings with two earned on 10 hits alongside two Ks.
For the starter job in the Monday game the Cardinals will send out Adam Wainwright. This year Wainwright is 2-1 with a 6.15 ERA in five starts. Over his career Wainwright is 197-118 with a 3.41 ERA in 462 games (395 starts).
Texas Rangers
Over on the Texas side, they beat the Mariners 2-0 in the opener and 16-6 on Saturday. In the finale the Rangers scored five runs in both the third and sixth innings during a 12-3 blowout victory. Starter Nathan Eovaldi managed 6.0 clean frames with one hit, no walks and seven Ks.
As starting pitcher Monday the Rangers will send out Martin Perez. In 11 starts this year Perez is 6-1 with a 4.43 ERA and 44 strikeouts over 61.0 innings of work. Perez is 81-78 in his career with a 4.43 ERA in 264 games (234 starts).
The Cardinals are 5-2 in their last seven interleague road games and 7-21 in the last 28 in game one of a series. St. Louis is 2-8 in their last 10 Monday games.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are 4-9 in their last 13 versus the NL Central and 19-7 in their last 26 overall. Texas is 4-1 in their last five in game one of a series.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll try the Cardinals here. Probably not touching it, though. Wainwright had a shaky start versus the Reds on May 23 (5.2 innings; five earned in a win) but bounced back with three earned in 5.0 innings in his last start—a loss, unfortunately. Wainwright has given up 10 earned over his last 16.1 innings, going 2-1 over three starts in that time. St. Louis had a rough series over the weekend, and they’ve scored two runs or fewer in three of their last five games. The Cardinals need an offensive bounce-back in this one.
