The St. Louis Cardinals welcome in the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight in Major League Baseball action. The game is scheduled for an 8:10 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on the MLB Network. Currently the odds for the game have the Cardinals favored to pick up the victory in this matchup at home.
Both Pittsburgh and St. Louis have the best records in baseball dating back to the later part of May. The Pirates are 47-22 during that time, St. Louis has gone 44-26 their last 70 games as well. Both are the class of the National League and open a three-game set tonight in St. Louis fighting to be the top team in the NL Central.
The one downfall for the Pirates this season has been their mediocre play on the road. Pittsburgh is just 26-26, which isn't terrible, but being better away from home will continue to solidify them moving forward. It won't be easy pulling that off pulling that off in this series, though. The Cardinals are the best team in the league at home, though the Mets, Pirates, Astros and Royals are very good at their own parks as well. St. Louis has just 16 defeats on their own turf this season and swept Pittsburgh back in early May in three straight extra inning games.
The Pirates are pitching Jeff Locke, who is 6-6 with a 4.31 ERA this season. On the road he's just 3-3 with a 6.43 ERA in eight starts. Opponents are hitting .310 against Locke in those games. The Cardinals haven't had the best success against him, though, hitting just .226 in 124 at bats. Kolten Wong has homered while Jason Heyward has five hits in 16 at bats.
Getting the ball for St. Louis will be Carlos Martinez. He's 11-4 with a 2.57 ERA and has been a very good young starter for the Cardinals. At home Martinez is 5-2 with a 2.80 ERA in 10 starts, a span of 64 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .258 against him there and he's allowed 20 earned runs in that time. Martinez does have better overall numbers on the road, but his work at home has certainly been excellent.
Current Pirates are hitting .255 against him, Neil Walker has two home runs while Pedro Alvarez and Andrew McCutchen have both gone deep as well. Gregory Polanco has give hits in seven at bats for the most success against Martinez. This should be an excellent series between two greats teams, both have won seven of 10 but the Pirates have picked up four straight games overall.
It won't be easy against Martinez tonight, though.
Free Pick: Cardinals
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