Cardinals vs Pirates Prediction, Pick and Preview, August 26 (8/26): MLB

Cardinals vs Pirates Prediction, Pick and Preview, August 26 (8/26): MLB

Credit: photo by Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

 
Odds
Time 7:05 p.m. EST
Cardinals money line -167
Cardinals run line -1.5 (-105)
Pirates money line +152
Pirates run line +1.5 (-115)
Over / under 8.5 (-116)

 

Key stats
  Cardinals Pirates
Record 64-61 46-81
Road / home record 29-31 26-36
Last 10 record 5-5 4-6
Streak W1 L1
Over / under record 55-63-7 58-62-7
Runs / game 4.06 3.56
Runs allowed / game 4.24 5.05

 

Preview

Today the St. Louis Cardinals head to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates. This will be a NL Central Division matchup against two teams on opposite sides of the spectrum. This series has favored the Cardinals as they are 10-5 this year against the Pirates. The Pirates come into this game 3-2 in their last 5 games. They took 2 of the games against the lowly Diamondbacks and were able to win 2 games against this same Cardinals team last week. With playoffs not in the picture the Pirates are looking like a Triple-A team at the moment. The Cardinals head to Pittsburgh where they will face the young righty in Mitch Keller. The Cards are 2-3 in their last 5 games. Going 1-1 against the Tigers and 2-3 against the Pirates last week at home. They head into this game 3.5 games back in the NL wildcard so look for them to find some magic and make a push.

Pitching matchup

Cardinals

Miles Mikolas (0-1, 1.00 ERA) will get the ball for the Cardinals today when they take on the Pirates. Mikolas got his season started late this year and only has 2 starts coming into the game. He has a 21.6% strikeout rate, 5.07 XFIP, and has been walking lefties at a high clip. In his only 2 games he’s pitched 9 innings, striking out 8 and allowing 1 ER.

Pirates

Mitch Keller (4-10, 6.35 ERA) will be on the bump for the Pirates. The young righty is still trying to prove that he belongs in the majors. He comes into this games with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 5.26 XFIP, and high walk rate sitting at 11.1%. Keller has been walking a lot of batters while also allowing some absurd hard contact. Keller is coming off a nice outing against this same Cardinals team where he went 5 innings with 6 strikeouts while not allowing a run.

Prediction

Although Mitch Keller had success against this same Cardinals team last week I don’t see that happening again. Mitch Keller allows too much hard contact and walks too many hitters. I fully expect the Cards to get to him and then feast on the Pirates bullpen.

PICK: pick (odds)

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