The set-up: All of a sudden, the Giants are getting timely hits and starting to win games. San Francisco used a four-run ninth inning against the New York Mets back on May 10th to post its first road victory when trailing in the 9th inning in over a year. After a 5-2 homestand, the Giants then notched a second 9th-inning comeback win in the series opener on Friday against the Cards, scoring all six of their runs after the sixth inning. Last night, Christian Arroyo's two-run double in the 13th broke a scoreless tie in Saturday's 3-1 triumph. San Francisco will go for a three-game sweep in St. Louis today, eyeing its eighth win in nine tries (after a 12-24 start to 2017). St. Louis has now dropped a season-high four straight (including two in 13 innings), to fall to 21-19, 2 1/2 games back of the Brewers in the NL Central. The Cardinals' starting pitching has yet to give up a run over 15 innings in this series, but the bullpen has been pounded for nine runs (eight earned) in just seven innings and during the team's four-game slide, owns a 6.75 ERA.

The pitching matchup: Matt Cain (3-1 & 4.04 ERA) will be on the mound for the Giants and Adam Wainwright (3-3 & 5.31 ERA) for the Cards. Cain became the 12th pitcher in club history to reach 2,000 career innings Monday, getting his first win since April 24 after throwing a season-high 112 pitches while permitting one run and five hits over 6 2/3 innings versus the Los Angeles Dodgers (Giants won 8-4). The three-time All-Star is showing signs of regaining some of his past form, having allowed fewer than three ERs in six of his last seven starts. However, Cain has struggled more versus the Cardinals than any other NL team over his career, going 2-5 with a 6.19 ERA in 12 games (11 starts). Wainwright proved to be effectively wild last Sunday in a victory against the Chicago Cubs, yielding only four hits while walking a season-high four across seven scoreless inning. It's been a struggle for Wainwright in 2017, as Sunday's outing marked only the second time this year that he has worked at least six innings. Wainwright is 5-7 with a 3.27 ERA in 14 appearances (12 starts) against the Giants.

The pick: I like what I'm seeing from the Giants recently and as noted above, Cain is showing real signs of once again being a solid starter. Go with the flow, the Giants are surging and the Cards are stumbling and bumbling. Make San Francisco an 8* play.