The St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals meet Saturday in MLB action from Nationals Park. Here’s a Washington Nationals vs St. Louis Cardinals prediction. This will be the second installment in a four-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game.
St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview
St. Louis played the Pittsburgh Pirates in their early-week set and did pretty well. The Cardinals lost 5-4 Wednesday but otherwise won 7-4 and 3-2 to take the series. In the Friday opener versus Washington, St. Louis powered out a hard-fought 7-6 win in 11 innings. Starter Sonny Gray finished with 5.0 innings and five earned runs.
In the starter slot for the Saturday game the Cardinals will send out Lance Lynn. Over his 17 starts this year Lynn is 4-3 with a 3.59 ERA. In 358 career games (334 starts) Lynn is 140-98 with a 3.73 ERA.
Washington Nationals Betting Preview
Over on the Nationals’ side, they took on the New York Mets in their last series. Washington lost 9-7 and 7-2 in the first two installments before recovering with wins 7-5 and 1-0 in the remaining pair. On Friday the Nats blew an early lead on the way to the loss. Patrick Corbin lasted 5.0 innings as starter with three earned on six hits and two walks.
It’ll be MacKenzie Gore in the starter slot for the Nationals on Saturday. This year Gore is 6-7 with a 3.47 ERA in 17 starts. Over 60 career games (57 starts) Gore is 17-21 with a 4.15 ERA. The Nats will meet the Mets and Brewers after this series.
Nationals vs Cardinals Pick Injury Notes
Cardinals SS Tommy Edman (wrist) will continue to take batting practice this weekend with Double-A Springfield.
Total Runs Facts
- Eight of the last nine games between the Cardinals and Nationals have gone OVER the total runs line.
- Seven of the Cardinals’ last eight games following an extra innings win have gone OVER the total runs line.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Cardinals’ last six games as road underdogs.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Nationals’ last six day games against NL Central opponents.
Washington Nationals Player Prop Facts
- Jesse Winker has recorded at least one Double in five of his last six home appearances against the Cardinals after playing the previous day.
- Lane Thomas has hit a home run in four of the Nationals’ last five games as home favorites.
- MacKenzie Gore has recorded a win in three of his last four appearances against opponents that held a winning record.
- Lane Thomas has recorded at least one RBI in seven of the Nationals’ last eight games as favorites against NL opponents.
- Keibert Ruiz has scored a run in each of his last six appearances in day games against teams that held a winning record.
- Jesse Winker has recorded at least one Single in eight of his last nine appearances with his team as a favorite against the Cardinals.
- CJ Abrams has recorded two or more total bases in each of the Nationals’ last eight games against the Cardinals.
- MacKenzie Gore has recorded seven or more strikeouts in each of his last four home appearances against NL opponents.
- Lane Thomas has recorded at least one hit in each of the Nationals’ last 10 games against NL opponents that held a winning record.
St. Louis Cardinals Player Prop Facts
- Willson Contreras has hit a home run in three of his last four road appearances after playing the previous day.
- Alec Burleson has recorded at least one RBI in each of the Cardinals’ last five games as underdogs against NL opponents.
- Willson Contreras has recorded two or more total bases in each of his last six road appearances against NL opponents that held a losing record.
- Nolan Arenado has recorded at least one Single in each of his last eight appearances in day games.
- Willson Contreras has scored a run in each of his last five appearances against NL East opponents that held a losing record.
- Lance Lynn has recorded five or more strikeouts in each of his last nine appearances against NL opponents that held a losing record.
- Willson Contreras has recorded at least one hit in each of his last 18 road appearances after playing the previous day.
- Brandon Crawford has recorded a Double in each of his last three appearances in day games against teams that held a losing record.
Washington Nationals vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction
I’ll stay with the Cardinals. Lynn had a rough start on June 18 versus Miami with five earned in 5.1 innings. Since then he’s been much better with just one earned in 12.2 innings over two starts, going 2-0 in that pair. As for Gore, he’s coming off one earned in 5.2 innings versus the Mets.
On Friday the Cardinals mounted a great comeback following a pretty rough outing from Gray. The bullpen was solid and helped carry the team to the victory. I like St. Louis to keep it up Saturday if Lynn can continue rolling with a quality start.