Friday night baseball and we will see the St Louis Cardinals travel north to take on the Cincinnati Reds in game 1 of their 3 game series. The game is scheduled for a 7:10 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on . Currently the ODDS have Cincinnati favored at -130, while St Louis is dogs of +110. The total for the game sits at 8 runs. 58% of the Public is currently on the REDS, while 75% is on the OVER. Get all the Public's action by clicking HERE.
Free Analysis: St Louis has ground to make up in the National League Central and as luck would have it, the Cardinals have been playing well with Cincinnati in their sights. The Redbirds throttled Houston 13-5 on Thursday for their fourth win in five contests and in seven of eleven overall. St. Louis (68-56) scored 24 runs to sweep lowly Houston in a three-game set that concluded a 6-3 homestand. Owners of the NL's second wild-card spot, the Cardinals pounded out 17 hits in a 13-5 win Thursday. Matheny hopes his club can continue to produce in Cincinnati (76-50), then at fellow contender Pittsburgh for three games before finishing the trip with four versus NL-leading Washington. While the Reds own a seven-game division lead over second-place St. Louis, the Pirates trail the Cardinals by one in the wild-card standings. Winning just one game against the Reds has been tough for the reigning World Series champs of late. Though the Cardinals were swept in a three-game series at Cincinnati from July 13-15, two were decided by two runs and the other by one. Allen Craig is batting .417 (20 for 48) during a 12-game hitting streak, but is 1 for 18 in his career versus Cincinnati. Outfielder Jon Jay is 10 for 22 in the last four games following an 0-for-9 slump, but has hit .167 (4 for 24) at Great American Ball Park in 2012. Lance Lynn (13-5, 3.73 ERA) makes his first start versus Cincinnati after posting a 2.25 ERA in three relief appearances against the Reds last season. The right-hander has enjoyed a stellar first full season in the majors but has a 6.49 ERA in his last five starts after going 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA in his previous three. Lynn allowed three runs, three walks and struck out eight in 4 1-3 innings of a 5-4 win over the Pirates on Saturday. The Cincinnati Reds appeared on the verge of unraveling following a five-game losing streak earlier this month, but they have regrouped to win 10 of their next 14 games to open a comfortable seven-game lead atop the National League Central. Cincinnati's bullpen blew two saves in the four-game series against Philadelphia, but Reds closer Aroldis Chapman has converted 23 straight chances, tying the franchise record shared by John Franco (1988) and Rob Dibble (1991). Frazier is batting .444 with five homers and 16 RBIs in his last 15 games, though he may be relegated to the bench with Joey Votto slated to return soon. Frazier's only hit in seven at-bats versus St. Louis this season left the park. Ex-Cardinal Ryan Ludwick has hit .358 with seven home runs and 19 RBIs in his last 15 home contests, but is 2 for 15 with a homer against his former club at Great American Ball Park in 2012. Tonight the Reds will send Mat Latos to the mound. Latos has not factored in the decision in his last three starts despite giving up a total of three earned runs over 22 innings in that span. He allowed four runs - two earned - in eight innings against the Chicago Cubs in his last outing. Latos was pounded by St. Louis for a season-worst eight runs in 5 2/3 innings on April 18, but he rebounded from that beating to log 10-1 record since. Mat is is 1-3 with a 9.75 ERA in five career starts versus St. Louis. Cincy is a MLB best 41-22 at hoime this year.
Free Pick: Let's take a look at the Over in this game. Mat Latos have pitched very well for the Reds of late, but he will be facing a hot St Louis offense tonight. St Louis has scored 32 runs in their last 5 games and they have averaged 6.36 rpg in Lance's 14 road starts this year. St Louis is also a team that Mat has had trouble with, posting a 9.75 ERA in 5 career starts vs them and in those 5 starts he has allowed 7 ER"s or more in 3 of those. Lance Lynn comes in struggling right now as he has a 6.49 ERA in his last 5 starts. Lance has a 3.98 ERA on the road and those starts have averaged 10.93 rpg. The Reds have a good offense at home, where they average 4.7 rpg overall and 4.4 rpg for Mat at home. With the way the Cards give great run support to Lance and with the way the Reds score at home, I just don't see how these team don't hit at least 4 runs each.
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