Reds/Cards: a must win II!
(MLB) Cincinnati vs. St. Louis,
Total: 8.00 | -104.00 Over
Result: Win
Reds (Castillo, 7-15, 4.20) vs Cardinals (Mikolas, 0-2, 5.06)

The Reds padded their lead over the Cards yesterday, and will look to add on today. Luis Castillo starts for the Reds. Castillo has pitched better than his won/lost record would suggest, with solid starts of some length. He lost to the Cards a couple of starts ago but only gave up a pair of runs.

His opponent is Mike Mikolas. Mikolas has yet to find his groove after a very long stretch on the DL, giving up 11 runs in12+innings pitched. He did stretch out his last start to 5 innings.

The Cards bullpen has been solid but did stumble in the 9th yesterday. The Redsโ€™ pen has been a stumbling block all season and has an ERA of 6.20 in their last 7 games.

The Reds have the superior offense in theory although they have under-achieved of late. The Cards, after a brief power surge,have been about normal, meaning low scoring, in the past week.

The Reds are a good road team, 50-38 as a favorite and solid against right-handers. Mikolas has yet to show signs of improvement. The wind is blowing out today. Take this game to GO OVER THE TOTAL.