Cleveland Indians (35-41) +160, o/u 9 at St. Louis Cardinals (42-34), 8 p.m. Eastern
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff
The slumping St. Louis Cardinals hope a Cy Young Award winner can reverse their recent bad fortunes when they take on the Cleveland Indians in the finale of a three-game inter-league series Wednesday night at the new Busch Stadium.
Cleveland has won the first two games of this series, but the Indians are still just 4-6 over their last 10 games. Cleveland sits in fourth place in the AL Central, 17 games back of the division-leading Detroit Tigers.
St. Louis has now lost eight games in a row, and has been outscored 68-28 in the process. The Cardinals still lead the NL Central, but their advantage has been cut to a game and a half by the second-place Cincinnati Reds.
The Indians are just 15-22 on the road this season, but 15-10 as underdogs.
St. Louis is 24-15 at home this year, and 40-23 as favorites.
Before Monday’s game, these two teams hadn’t met on the field since the 2001 regular season.
Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook (6-4, 4.36) has been pretty good lately, allowing 5 ER and 22 H+W in his last 22 IP. But the Indians are just 6-9 in Westbrook’s starts this year, the over/under 9-6.
Westbrook has not started a game vs. St. Louis since 2001.
Cardinals’ starter Chris Carpenter (6-4, 2.97) has given up 8 ER and 23 H+W in his last 21 innings of work. St. Louis is 8-6 in Carpenter’s starts this year, the o/u 5-9.
Carpenter has not started a game vs. Cleveland since 2001, when he was a Toronto Blue Jay.
The Indians own a .351 team OBP this season, 6th-best in the majors, and are averaging 5.4 runs per game.
The Cardinals own a .346 team OBP, which is tied for 7th-best in the majors, and are averaging 5.0 RPG.
The Cleveland bullpen has given up just 1 ER and 14 H+W in its’ last 12 IP.
The St. Louis bullpen has been bounced for 13 ER and 27 H+W in its’ last 13 1/3 innings of work.
The o/u is 42-32 in Indians games this year, 39-33 in St. Louis games, and 19-18 at the new Busch Stadium.
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The Ultimatecapper Pick: Passing today.
