Toronto Blue Jays at St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview
The finale of a brief two-game interleague battle between the Toronto Blue Jays (22-20) and the St. Louis Cardinals (24-18) will take place Tuesday night. The Cardinals will host this one at Busch Stadium, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:45 pm ET.
In a back-and-forth battle, the Cardinals prevailed in extra innings on Monday, 7-3. Paul Goldschmidt was the hero of the game, hitting a grand slam in the 10th inning, his seventh of the season. Juan Yepez also went deep for the redbirds.
On the mound, Miles Mikolas went 6.2 innings in the start, allowing all three runs on four hits while striking out five. Genesis Cabrera picked up the win in relief.
Jose Berrios was also solid in his start for Toronto. He went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs and striking out seven. David Phelps was tagged with the loss in relief.
Offensively, George Springer hit his eighth home run of the season, but the Blue Jays managed just four hits on the night and left 19 runners on base.
The Blue Jays are the favorites despite playing on the road. They are -145 to win while the Cardinals’ moneyline sits at +134. The over/under for total runs is 7.5.
Blue Jays Look To Get Back On Track
Toronto is now 5-5 in their last ten games and have fallen seven games back in the AL East of the first-place Yankees. One of the biggest problems is their road play. While they are 14-8 at home, they are just 8-12 on the road to this point.
Trying to get them back in the win column Tuesday is starter Kevin Gausman. This season, he is 3-3 in eight games with a 2.52 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, and he has 57 strikeouts in 50 innings pitched.
In his last start, Gausman took a loss despite giving up just two earned runs over five innings to the Seattle Mariners. He has now picked up the loss in back-to-back games.
Offensively, the team has been led by leadoff hitter and outfielder George Springer. He currently is hitting .271/.341/.500 and leads the team with eight home runs, 24 runs batted in, and 24 runs scored.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is also off to a nice start hitting .257/.349/.426 with seven home runs, 21 runs batted in, and 17 runs scored.
This will be the first time that any Blue Jays’ hitter will square off with the Cardinals’ Jordan Hicks.
Cardinals Look To Finish Sweep
At 24-18, the St. Louis Cardinals have gotten off to a strong start this season, but they still find themselves 2.5 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. Trying to keep pace in the NL Central, the Cardinals will look for the sweep on Tuesday.
Hard throwing Jordan Hicks will get the start on Tuesday. In eight games, Hicks is 1-3 with a 4.21 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and he has 26 strikeouts in 25.2 innings of work.
Still being stretched out, the longest he has gone to this point is five innings. In his last start, Hicks took a no-decision after giving up two earned runs in four innings to the Mets. In the game, he allowed just three hits and struck out five, but he also allowed three walks in the short stint.
There has been a bit of a youth movement in St. Louis as Juan Yepez, Nolan Gorman, and Brendan Donovan are all seeing regular at bats with the big club. Adding to this movement, the club announced that after Yadier Molina was put on the bereavement list, their No. 4 prospect Ivan Herrera was called up to take his spot in the short term.
Yepez has gotten off to a strong start with St. Louis. In just 69 at bats, he is hitting .304/.377/.522 with four home runs, seven runs batted in, and 13 runs scored.
The leading hitters for the Cardinals have been Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt. Arenado is hitting .294/.353/.556 with a team-leading nine home runs. He also has 32 runs batted in and 20 runs scored.
Not to be outdone, Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .338/.403/.573 with seven home runs and a team-leading 33 runs batted in.
Blue Jays/Cardinals Betting Prediction
This one simply comes down to the pitching. While Jordan Hicks has absolutely electric stuff, he has only gone past four innings twice in eight games. Furthermore, he has allowed at least two runs in each of his last five games despite the short outings.
On the flip side, Kevin Gausman has shown signs of brilliance this season. For Toronto, there is probably no other pitcher they would want starting this game.
It is worth noting that the Cardinals are hot as of late, winning seven of their last 10, but the fact that Hicks still hasn’t picked up a win since April 12 makes Toronto an enticing bet. Take the Blue Jays to win at -145.
