Pittsburgh has been horrendous on the road this year, winning only ten games in over thirty chances, and have been awful against the Cardinals, losing nine in a row overall to them. Add in that Martinez pitched an eight-inning shutout against the Pirates just last month, and this game very quickly has the makings of a bad matchup for the Pirates as their offense is very WEAK. Both offenses have been awful on the season, but at least the Cardinals offense has quite a bit of upside with Arenado and Goldschmidt, in addition to their young group.
Last
the Cardinals are a PERFECT 11-0 as a -140 fav or better in the first game of a series with no rest after a loss as a road favorite in which they held the lead. The Pirates are 0-13 as an underdog behind Chad Kuhl when he went more than five innings and gave up fewer than six hits in his last start, losing by an average of 4.00 runs per game.
Back the STL CARDS in this one on Thursday night!