The St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants will meet in the finale of a four-game series at Oracle Park. It's time to continue our MLB odds coverage with a Cardinals-Giants prediction and pick.
The Giants routed the Cardinals 13-7 on Saturday to earn a win in the four-game series. They fell behind 1-0 early on a Nolan Arenado RBI single but got a ginormous opportunity in their half when Wilmer Flores came to the plate with the bases loaded. Then, Flores clobbered a 2-2 sinker from Steven Matz into the left-field seats for a grand slam. It was his third homer of 2022 and put the Giants up 4-1. Later, Mauricio Dubon got his chance in the second with a man on base after the Cards added two more to cut the deficit. He crushed the first pitch from Matz into center field for a homer. It was his first home run in 2022 and gave the Giants a 6-3 lead. Next, Darin Ruff plundered an 0-1 sinker from Matz into deep left-field for a two-run bomb for his first in 2022.
The Cards entered the seventh trailing 9-4 when Dylan Carlson slammed a 2-1 pitch into the seats for a three-run home run to make it 9-7. However, the Giants would hold the Cards there and add six more to finish off the victory. The Giants will try and even the series today.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Cardinals-Giants MLB odds:
MLB Odds: Cardinals-Giants Odds
Cardinals: +1.5 (-182)
Giants: -1.5 (+150)
Over: 7.5 (-120)
Under: 7.5 (-102)
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Why The Cardinals Could Cover The Spread
St. Louis had horrendous pitching last night and will look to rebound today. The Cards will go with Dakota Hudson on the hill. Hudson is 2-2 with a 3.16 ERA over five starts. He has lasted six innings or more in three of five starts. Conversely, he allowed three earned runs on nine hits with a home run given up in a 7-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals in his last start. Now, he looks to get a win and hopefully receive more run support. The Cards have hit the ball well in this series, managing 17 runs over three games.
Paul Goldschmidt went 2 for 5 with a double last night. Likewise, Arenado went 2 for 5 with an RBI. Yadier Molina went 1 for 4. However, Goldschmidt is on pace for only 12 home runs, which is well below the 31-per-year average he has had over his last six full healthy seasons. The Cards made three errors yesterday, which is something they must rebound from.
The Cardinals will cover the spread if Hudson can give them a quality start similar to his last outing. Of course, he must limit the number of hits he allows to prevent monster innings. Goldschmidt, Arenado, and Molina need to have productive games at the plate to ensure that the Cards cover. Lastly, the Cardinals need to recover from their three-error misstep.
Why The Giants Could Cover The Spread
San Francisco will go with Jakob Junis on the mound. Junis is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA over two starts. He has thrown five innings in each game, not allowing a run. Now, he hopes to replicate the effort as he takes on a Cardinals team that has been raking well at the plate. The goal is to keep the top hitters off balance and find a way around them.
His hitters will try and replicate last night's performance. After scoring a combined two runs over the first two games, the Giants blew up for 13 runs. Flores went 1 for 3, Dubon went 2 for 4, while Ruff went 1 for 3. However, Brandon Belt struggled as he went 0 for 4. The Giants need Belt at his best to have a chance of covering.
The Giants will cover the spread if they can get a decent start out of Junis. While they expect him to go longer than five innings, they would be content with another scoreless performance. Additionally, the Giants must continue to rake the ball. They struggled on Thursday and Friday but cashed in on Saturday. Which offense will show up today?
Final Cardinals-Giants Prediction & Pick
These teams exploded offensively last night. However, usually, it tends to go the other way when the same two teams meet again the next day. The Cardinals and Giants will both go with pitchers that have had low-key good seasons. Therefore, it is not hard to fathom that this game might turn into a low-scoring affair. The Giants could snag the win but a low-scoring game is easier to predict. Expect the Cards and the Giants to struggle for runs a day after it came easy for them.
Final Cardinals-Giants Prediction & Pick: Under: 7.5 (-102)
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