MLB Baseball
2012-04-20 - St Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Friday 20 April 2012 - First Pitch 7:05pm ET
12:05am (British Standard Time)
Preview
This is the first game of a season series between two National League Central rivals who have started the 2012 season in differing manners. The St Louis Cardinals (9-4) are the reigning World Champions and opened the season where they left off last season despite losing Albert Pujols from the batting line up. The Pittsburgh Pirates (5-7) have found a way to win games despite struggling at the plate so far.
It is expected to be a quiet night for Game 1 as fans are likely to be glued to the television sets showing coverage of the Pittsburgh Penguins play their Play Off game in the NHL at Philadelphia, as the Pirates try to find some life from their bats.
Pittsburgh have scored 3 or few runs in 7 of their last 9 games, although they completed a series win at the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 2-1 win. It is likely they will need more run support as they send Charlie Morton to the mound for his second start of the season.
Morton gave up 3 runs from 5 innings pitched against the San Francisco Giants in his first start, but was not involved in the decision as the Pirates were beaten 4-3. He has struggled against the St Louis Cardinals in his career, compiling a 2-5 record from 9 starts and a 6.25 ERA.
The pitcher may at least get some relief from the Cardinals batting line up that will be missing Lance Berkman and Jon Jay, although Matt Carpenter has filled in admirably earlier this season. Skip Schumaker has also been called up to the rotation.
St Louis might not need the batting line up to do too much for them if Lance Lynn continues pitching in the manner he has started the season. Lynn is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and he gave up just 1 run in his last start over 5 innings.
Lynn has only seen the Pittsburgh line up once before and he gave up 1 run from 2 innings pitched in relief last season.
Head to Head
St Louis won the season series between the teams 9-7 last season.
The Cardinals won on 3 of their last 4 visits to this ballpark and they are 6-2 in the last 8 overall.
Prediction
St Louis saw their 4 game winning run come to an end in a 6-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds yesterday, but I think they can get back to winning ways here behind solid pitching and a deep batting line up.
Pittsburgh have struggled at the plate for much of the season and could have another tough outing against Lance Lynn, while the Cardinals have had plenty of success against Charlie Morton.
If the Cardinals can get up to 5/6 runs, I think they will have enough in the bag to cover the run line in this one and that is what I will back.
The Pick :
Pittsburgh Pirates 2-6 St Louis Cardinals
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the St Louis Cardinals - 1.5 @ 2.30
