MLB Baseball
2012-04-17 - Cincinnati Reds at St Louis Cardinals
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Tuesday 17 April 2012 - First Pitch 8:15pm ET
1:15am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The St Louis Cardinals (7-3) have likely surprised a lot of people with the start they have made to the new season despite losing Albert Pujols in the off-season after winning the World Series. Even more surprising is the fact that they have been so effective on the plate in the absence of other big hitters like Lance Berkman and David Freese.
Both of those players are expected back in the line up tonight as they open a series with the Cincinnati Reds (4-6) who have struggled for consistency in the very early part of the new season.
While some of the Cardinals major batters are getting back to fitness, Carlos Beltran may be the latest to miss some time after being hit with a pitch on Sunday. All of this might not make much of a difference as the Cardinals continue to lead the Major League with a batting average of 0.299.
St Louis may not need much run support if Kyle Lohse continues his early season form. The pitcher is 2-0 this season as he prepares for his third start and he has a 1.35 ERA. Lohse will also build confidence from the fact that he has a 2.00 ERA in his last 5 starts against the Reds.
While the Cardinals have been hitting freely from the plate, the Cincinnati Reds have been a little up and down, although they did beat Washington 8-5 in their last game. They will look for a big performance from Johnny Cueto who has a 2.25 ERA from his two starts this season and a 1-0 record.
Cueto already pitched once against the Cardinals this season, although he only last for 5 innings when giving up 3 runs, although the Reds did win that game 4-3. The pitcher will hope to be a good omen for Cincinnati as they have won 6 of the last 8 games against St Louis that Cueto has started.
Head to Head
St Louis won 2 of the 3 games played in Cincinnati this season, outscoring the Reds 13-6 in that series.
Cincinnati won the season series 9-6 in 2011, although they finished 4-5 here.
St Louis are 3-1 in Game 1's this season, going 2-0 when coming in off a win.
Cincinnati are 1-2 in Game 1's, all coming following a win.
Prediction
I am going to take the St Louis Cardinals to get one over on Johnny Cueto for once and continue their hot start to the season from the plate. The return of Lance Berkman and David Freese will be another boost to a line up that has been hitting with great consistency already this season.
The problem for Cincinnati will be trying to keep up if the Cardinals get hot, but they have struggled to keep things going at the plate, scoring 2 or fewer runs in 5 of their last 7 games.
The Reds may have scored 8 runs in their last game against Washington, but they had totalled just 10 runs in their previous 6 games and they have had a hard time against Kyle Lohse in recent games against the pitcher.
With all that in mind, the run line looks very big and definitely worth chancing.
The Pick :
St Louis Cardinals 5-2 Cincinnati Reds
