The St. Louis Cardinals will start a three game series at the Houston Astros on Monday. The St. Louis Cardinals are coming off a series in Philadelphia. On Sunday Night Baseball, the Cardinals are 28-29. St. Louis won in 10 innings on Sunday to avoid getting swept. The Cardinals are in second place in the National League Central.
For Houston, they are 26-34 on the season. The Astros are third in the American League West. Houston trails Seattle and the Texas Rangers. Houston is coming off a home loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. In their last ten games, the Astros have won just four of them.
Houston is a big favorite in this game. The Astros are -175 over the Cardinals.
Up and Down Cardinals
The win on Sunday had a lot to do with Nolan Gorman. He started the scoring with just 11th home run of the season to put them up 2-0. Alec Burleson also hit a two run homerun, and then Gorman drove in the game winning run in the 10th inning. Gorman is hitting just .223, but has 28 runs batted in.
St. Louis as a team is hitting just .233. THe Cardinals are near the bottom in runs scored, and have just 52 homeruns on the season. The St. Louis pitching needs to also improve. The Cardinals are allowing 4.6 runs per game.
The St. Louis Cardinals will toss Kyle Gibson in this game. Gibson is in his first season with the Cardinals. He is making his 12th start of the season. On the year he is 4-2 with a 3.60 earned run average. Gibson has struck out 52 batters and walked 25, in 65 innings this season.
Verlander for the Astros
For Houston, Justin Verlander will get the nod. The veteran right hander is making his 9th start of the season. Verlander is 3-2 on the season with a 3.26 earned run average. Verlander has struck out 44 batters in 47 innings this season.
Houston had just six hits in the loss to Kansas City on Sunday. Alex Bregman had two of the hits and drove in two runs. Bregman hit his 8th home run of the season. The top hitter for the Astros this season has been Jose Altuve. The second baseman has a .292 batting average with 9 homeruns and 20 runs batted in.
Houston, despite being well below .500 has the second best batting average in all of Major League Baseball. The Astros are hitting .259. Houston has clubbed 72 homeruns, which is tied for the fourth most in all of baseball. The Astros are scoring 4.4 runs per game.
Cardinals Win on the Road
We like the Cardinals here. St. Louis is going to get to Verlander and grab a win here. Look for Gibson to throw well, like he has been for some time this season for the Cardinals. St. Louis gets the bats going and win this game.
The final bet for this game is the St. Louis Cardinals +150 over the Houston Astros. Enjoy the game and best of luck!
