Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (16-19) vs Pittsburgh Pirates (12-23)
Time: 6:45pm CT Monday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Miles Mikolas (1-2, 4.66 ERA) vs Carmen Mlodzinski (1-3, 6.58 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Cardinals -135, Pirates +114
Total: 8.5 (over -105, under -115)
Cards, Pirates Open Series at Busch
The St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates open a three-game series tonight at Busch Stadium.
The Redbirds are coming off a doubleheader sweep of the Mets yesterday with both victories coming by 1 run. The Cards have won each of their last four 1-run games after being 0-5 to start the season in that category.
Can Mikolas Keep It Going?
The overall numbers don’t look great with an ERA pushing 5, but tonight’s starter Miles Mikolas has given the Cardinals a chance to win in all of his starts except for one this season. Mikolas has allowed 3 earned runs or less in five of his six starts, and he carries a streak coming into this game of 11.1 innings without allowing a run.
The Redbirds are 12-6 at home this season and have won five of their six series at Busch. Their opponent the Pirates are just 5-11 on the road.
Floundering Pirates
The Pirates come to St. Louis losers of four in a row and seven of their last eight. Their offense has been dreadful, as only two teams in baseball have scored fewer runs this season. Pittsburgh has notched 4 runs or less in eleven straight games.
Carmen Mlodzinski will be on the mound for the Pirates tonight. The right-hander pitched well against the Cardinals back on April 7th with just 1 run allowed in 5 innings of work.
My Pick
The Cardinals are feeling good after yesterday’s doubleheader sweep and should win this game, but I can’t get over my hesitation of backing Mikolas. I’m hopeful he can keep this good run going, but I keep waiting for the bottom to fall out and don’t want to have money invested when it does.
Instead, I’ve dug into the player prop market and found one I really like. Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes is 18-for-55 (.327 average) with 17 singles over his last 14 games. He has had at least one single in 13 of those 14 games. And in his career against Mikolas, Hayes is 8-for-21 (.381 average) with 6 singles.
I’m going to take Hayes to record at least one single tonight, and I’m going to tack on both teams to score at least one run in the game to get the odds down to -110.
Pick: Same Game Parlay priced at -110 on DraftKings - Ke’Bryan Hayes over 0.5 singles AND both teams to score 1+ runs (bet to -120)
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Friday on the Sports Hub STL YouTube channel. Follow him on X @GamblingDads, and click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams. Picks = betting the game - minus odds betting to win 1 unit, plus odds risking 1 unit. Leans = no strong opinion, not betting the game. Disclaimer