The St. Louis Cardinals (84-59), one of the best offenses in MLB, are set to host the Cincinnati Reds (56-86) at Busch Stadium on Thursday to open a five-game series. The Reds are coming off a four-game sweep at the hands of the Pirates, dropping the finale 10-4 on Wednesday at Great American Ball Park for their sixth straight loss. Kyle Farmer was 2 for 4 with a solo home run. Austin Romine added a solo home run. The Cardinals are in the midst of a seven-game homestand. They split their last series against the Brewers, taking the finale 4-1 on Wednesday at Busch Stadium. Lars Nootbaar went 1 for 3 with a solo home run.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Cardinals have won nine of 14 in the season series between the NL Central rivals, including a 5-3 victory in 13 innings in their most recent meeting on August 31 at Great American Ball Park. Reliever Andre Pallante was credited with the win after throwing three innings.
ON THE MOUND
Chase Anderson (0-3, 12.60 ERA) is in line to start for Cincinnati. The righty allowed two runs over four innings in his last start, a 5-1 road defeat against the Brewers on Saturday. He was charged with the loss, yielding one hit while striking out five and walking three. Anderson has made one previous start against the Cardinals this season, a 5-3 home loss on August 31. He surrendered three runs on one hit over one inning, walking one. Righty Miles Mikolas (11-11, 3.32 ERA) will toe the rubber for St. Louis. He has made three appearances against the Reds this season, all starts, giving up 11 runs over 16.1 innings (1-1, 6.06) with 11 strikeouts and four walks. In his last start on Friday, Mikolas took the loss on the road against the Pirates. He threw five innings and gave up four runs on eight hits, striking out eight and walking two in the 8-2 defeat.
AT THE PLATE
The Cincinnati offense is averaging 4.2 runs per game for the season, with a slash line of .240/.308/.382. Farmer leads the team in OPS at .723. The third baseman is slashing .267/.328/.395 with 11 home runs, 66 RBIs, and 54 runs over 125 games. Over the last five games, however, Cincinnati has averaged only 2.8 runs a game while performing worse across the board (.198/.261/.315). Against righties like Mikolas this season, the Reds have a .680 OPS. Farmer also is the team’s strongest performer against right-handers with a .635 OPS in 327 at-bats. St. Louis is slashing .257/.328/.429 for the season and averaging 4.9 runs per game, fourth best in the league. Paul Goldschmidt leads the team with a 1.015 OPS. The first baseman has 35 home runs, 109 RBIs, and 101 runs scored with a slash line of .324/.412/.603. The Cards have a .741 OPS against right-handers in 2022. With a .921 OPS over 403 at-bats, Goldschmidt also has been their best hitter against right-handers.
HOME AND AWAY
Cincinnati is 27-43 in road games in 2022, scoring 3.7 runs per game while allowing 5.0 runs. St. Louis has gone 48-25 at their home ballpark this season, averaging 4.9 runs per game while surrendering 3.6. St. Louis is 6-4 in the last 10 games at Busch Stadium between the teams with an average scoreline of 5.0-3.8.
STANDINGS UPDATE
The Cardinals lead the NL Central by eight games over the Brewers. The Reds are fourth in the NL Central, 27 games behind the Cardinals.
SportsTips’ MLB Pick:
St.Louis Cardinals (-275)
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*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.
