The St. Louis Cardinals are 5-1 over their last six games and have won each of their last nine series overall. The Cardinals will go for a tenth straight series win in a three-game series this week against the Pittsburgh Pirates starting on Tuesday night.
Pirates vs. Cardinals 2018 odds: St. Louis clear home favorite on Tuesday betting lines
The St. Louis Cardinals host the Pittsburgh Pirates as they look to stay on track for a playoff spot, with the sportsbooks giving them the decided edge on the betting lines.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
St. Louis is a -155 home favorite on the MLB odds in the series opener at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Jack Flaherty takes the mound for the home team facing Ivan Nova and the Pirates as +145 underdogs.
Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals
When: Tuesday, August 28, 8:15 p.m. ET
Where: New Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
Betting Line / Total: St. Louis -155 / 8 Runs
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals entered the month of August behind three teams in the NL Central and seemingly out of the playoff race with a record of 54-53. But with a 19-5 run over the team’s last 24 games, St. Louis has surged into second place in the division and first place in the Wild Card race.
Each of the team’s last 14 games have been won by two runs or more as the Cardinals have averaged 5.65 runs per game over their last 17 games, finally giving their excellent pitching staff the much-needed run support it wasn’t getting earlier in the year.
Jack Flaherty has been sensational in August with a 1.08 ERA, a 0.76 WHIP and 33 strikeouts in four starts this month. St. Louis is a perfect 4-0 in these four games.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates are going in the opposite direction. After coming into August slightly ahead of St. Louis in the standings with a 56-53 record, an 8-14 month has sent Pittsburgh tail-spinning out of the playoff race. Pittsburgh is just 1-7 in its last eight road games against St. Louis, according to the OddsShark MLB Database, and 3-14 in its last 17 road games against the Cardinals.
Tuesday night’s total is set at eight runs. The UNDER is 15-5 in the last 20 meetings between these two division rivals in St. Louis.
St. Louis enters this series with a 7-2 record in its last nine games against Pittsburgh. The series continues on Wednesday with a pitching matchup of Trevor Williams vs. Miles Mikolas and wraps up on Thursday night as Joe Musgrove squares off against John Gant.
For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.
