St. Louis Cardinals (42-27) +150, o/u 9 ½ at Chicago White Sox (45-25), 8 p.m. Eastern
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff
The St. Louis Cardinals, leaders of the National League Central Division, take on the defending World Champion Chicago White Sox in the middle game of a three-game interleague match-up Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field.
In the opener of this set, the White Sox pounded the Cardinals 20-6 Tuesday night.Before that loss, St. Louis had won four games in a row. The Cardinals lead the NL Central by five games over second-place Cincinnati.
Chicago has won five games in a row and 11 of their last 14. But they still haven’t chased down the first-place Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.
Before Tuesday’s game, these two teams hadn’t met since 2001.
St. Louis is 18-14 on the road this season, 2-6 as underdogs.
The White Sox are a profitable 25-10 at home this season, 37-22 as favorites.
Cardinals’ starter Jason Marquis (9-4, 4.55) has allowed 8 ER and 30 H+W in his last 19 IP.St. Louis is 9-5 in Marquis’ starts this year, the over/under 7-6.
Marquis hasn’t started a game vs. the White Sox since he was an Atlanta Brave in 2002.
ChiSox lefty starter Mark Buehrle (7-4, 3.13) has given up 10 ER and 30 H+W in his last 23 IP. The White Sox are 10-4 in Buehrle’s starts this year, the o/u 4-9.Buehrle has never started a game vs. St. Louis.
In this series’ finale on Thursday, the Cardinals will send Anthony Reyes (1-0, 2.25) to the mound, while Chicago will counter with Freddy Garcia (8-4, 5.08).
Reyes has only pitched 12 innings this year, allowing 3 ER.
Garcia has been clipped for 17 HRs in 88 2/3 IP this season.
St. Louis owns a .351 team OBP this year, 7th-best in the majors, and averages 5.1 runs per game (5.3 vs. left-handed pitching). And despite being without slugger Albert Pujols, the Cardinals have scored 37 runs over their last six games.
The White Sox own a .354 team OBP, 6th-best in the majors, and average 5.7 RPG. And even though the 20 runs they scored Tuesday night was a bit of an aberration, Chicago had scored 36 runs in their previous four games.
The St. Louis bullpen got bombed for 11 ER and 15 H+W in 5 2/3 innings of work Tuesday night alone. Before that, the Cardinal pen had allowed 4 ER and 8 H+W in its previous 8 1/3 IP.
The White Sox bullpen has given up 5 ER and 12 H+W in its last 9 innings of work.
St. Louis is 7-6 since putting Pujols on the DL June 4.
The o/u is 35-30 in Cardinals games this year, 35-31 in ChiSox games, and 18-15 at U.S. Cellular Field.
The Ultimatecapper Pick: Despite last night's big bat night for the Sox, we like the UNDER today.
