Cardinals vs Pirates Series Odds: Pittsburgh Gets the Nod

Pirates Throwing Keller, Skenes in First Two Games

July 22, 2024 169 3 minutes readMLB Picks & Parlays

Cardinals vs Pirates Series Odds: Pittsburgh Gets the Nod — Photo taken from bucsdugout.com

Monday's Game
Tuesday's Game
Wednesday's Game

The St. Louis Cardinals (52-47) visit the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game series beginning Monday. The Cardinals are in second place in the NL Central, but right in the wild card hunt.

Pittsburgh is just behind the Cardinals in the standings and also chasing a wild card berth. The Pirates are throwing their two big guns to begin the series, with Mitch Keller and Paul Skenes going the first two games. The Cardinals vs Pirates series odds will see Pittsburgh as decent favorites to take at least two of the three games.

St. Louis is No. 12 in team batting average and is scoring 4.2 runs per game. The Cardinals are tied with the Pirates at No. 22 in home runs, so neither team has a lot of power. St. Louis needs to do a better job cashing in its scoring opportunities.

The Cardinals pitchers are No. 15 in team ERA and have 36 saves in 50 opportunities. St. Louis is tied for No. 4 in bullpen ERA, so the relief pitchers have carried the team more than the starters.

The Pirates are also scoring 4.2 runs per game, but are just No. 26 in team batting average. Pittsburgh doesn’t really excel in any one area offensively, but are scraping together enough runs to win some games.

The Pirates are No. 12 in team ERA and the bullpen has 25 saves in 40 attempts. That’s a few too many blown saves and magnifies the problem with the bullpen. Pittsburgh is No. 23 in team bullpen ERA, so the starters are the ones who have carried the team. As the season goes on, Pittsburgh needs more out of its relievers.

Monday’s Game

The Cardinals vs Pirates series odds have Keller -131 over Andre Pallante and the total is 8.5. Pallante is 4-4 with a 4.21 ERA. He’s made eight starts and has nine appearances out of the bullpen. The Cardinals are 5-3 when he starts and he’s done a good job of stretching out his innings pitched.

Keller is 10-5 with a 3.46 ERA and the Pirates are 13-6 when he starts. With numbers like those you can see why some people were upset he was left off the All-Star team. Pittsburgh is 6-3 when Keller starts at home and allows 2.9 runs per game.

The MLB Vegas odds look to be a little bit on the light side here. There isn’t a huge difference in the teams and Keller has better numbers than Pallente. The odds a little bit scary, but have to believe Pittsburgh is the right side of this one.

Tuesday’s Game

Lance Lynn takes the ball for St. Louis and he hasn’t pitched that bad, going 5-4 with a 4.39 ERA. St. Louis is 11-8 when Lynn starts, but just 3-6 when he starts on the road. The Cardinals have allowed seven or more runs in four of Lynn’s last six away starts.

Skenes gets the start for the Pirates and he’ll be a huge favorite in this spot. Despite joining the rotation late, Skenes is No. 3 in the MLB Cy Young odds for the National League. The Pirates are 8-3 when Skenes starts this season.

This is one of those spots where it’s best not to get cute or overthink things and take the Pirates in your MLB picks and parlays. The Pittsburgh bats can go quiet at times, which makes it tough to play them on the run line.

Wednesday’s Game

The Cardinals vs Pirates series odds for Wednesday see that neither team has officially named their starting pitcher. Not that it’s making much difference, as teams have been switching scheduled starters since play resumed after the All-Star Break.

The Cardinals had a tough break when Friday’s game with Atlanta was rained out, causing the game to be pushed back and two starters to be used Saturday. St. Louis can either have a bullpen game or call up a pitcher, unless they want to pitch Sonny Gray or Kyle Gibson on three days rest.

Martin Perez would be up in the Pittsburgh rotation, although his last two starts have been terrible. St. Louis is 16-11 against left-handed starters this season and scoring 4.3 runs per game. If Perez starts, the over is worth a look regardless of who St. Louis elects to pitch.