Sunday night baseball and we will see the Milwaukee Brewers take on the St Louis Cardinals in game 3 of their 3 game series from St Louis. The game is scheduled for an 8:00 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on ESPN. Currently the odds have St Louis favored at -155, while Milwaukee is dogs of +146. The total for the game sits at 8.5 runs.
Free Analysis: The Cardinals have outscored the Brewers 15-4 in the first two games of this series. Adam Wainwright pitched a five-hitter in Saturday's 6-1 win, while Carlos Beltran and Jon Jay homered and Yadier Molina - playing with a sprained thumb - hit a two-run single to cap a four-run third inning. St. Louis was 4 1/2 games back of Pittsburgh for the second wild-card spot before Friday's games, but has made up two games so far this weekend with the Pirates dropping their first two against the Reds. St. Louis continues to play well at home, having won five straight and 14 of 17 there. The Cardinals have scored six runs or more in six of their last eight at Busch Stadium. If that trend continues, it should be plenty of support for Lohse (11-2, 2.91 ERA), who has allowed more than three runs in only one of his 10 home starts this year. He's 3-0 with a 2.22 ERA in his last four outings in St. Louis. The right-hander had a seven-game overall streak of allowing two runs or fewer end Tuesday, when he surrendered five runs in six innings of an 11-6 win at Colorado. "I think Kyle pitched better than the numbers said," said outfielder Matt Holliday, who is batting .408 over his last 42 games. "But he's pitched great all season. We were finally able to give him a little bit of a cushion and get him a win." Lohse has won his last two starts against the Brewers, giving up three runs and two homers in six innings of a 7-3 home victory April 28. The Brewers will hand the ball to Marco Estrada, who remains winless in 12 starts this season. Estrada (0-4, 4.34) was in line for a victory when he departed Monday after giving up three runs - two earned - in seven innings against Houston, but the bullpen blew the lead in a game the Brewers eventually won 8-7. They haven't swept a three-game home series against the Brewers since March 31-April 3, 2003, but Milwaukee (48-58) has dropped eight straight on the road - its longest losing streak away from Miller Park since a nine-game skid in May 2008. The Brewers have given up six runs or more in each of their last five road games.Reigning NL Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun is on the verge of a pair of personal accomplishments, as he is one stolen base away from his third career 20-20 season and one home run shy of his fifth year with 30 or more. Milwaukee's Aramis Ramirez has missed the last two games with a sore wrist, and it's uncertain if he'll be back in the lineup Sunday. He is 9 for 20 with two homers and three doubles against Lohse. Cardinals C Yadier Molina has stolen three bases over the first two games against Milwaukee. He had only eight steals in his first 91 games of the season. He is 5-7 off of Estrada.
Free Pick: Im going to look to the Under in this one. Marco Estrada had a tough outing vs the Phils two starts ago, but he has not pitched all that badly of late as he has allowed no more than 3 ER's in 6 of his last 7 starts. Kyle Lohse has been excellent this year for the Cards with a 2.91 ERA overall and a 2.61 ERA at home. He did have a rough outing in his last start, but what pitcher won't have a rough one in Colorado. Prior to that start he hadn't given up more than 2 ER's in his previous 7 starts. His home starts have averaged just 6.8 rpg, while just 2 of his last 10 starts have seen more than 8 runs scored in a game and one of those was in Colorado. The Cards do score 5.2 rpg at home, but when Lohse is on the mound they average just 4.2 rpg at home for him, while Milwaukee scores just 3.6 rpg on the road. I really don't expect more than 7 runs in this one.
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