The struggling Cincinnati Reds are in a tough spot as they open a three-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night. The Cards have the best home record in the majors right now, carrying an impressive 36-13 slate. Can the Reds upset the Cardinals at Busch Stadium? Read on for our complete preview of this NL Central clash.
For more baseball action, check out our previews of Yankees vs. Rangers and Diamondbacks vs. Mariners.
[sc:MLBArticles ]Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals Preview
Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
When: Monday, July 27, 8:15 PM ET
Line: Cincinnati Reds (+170) at St. Louis Cardinals (-200); total: 7.5 – view all MLB lines
Betting on the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati’s losing woes continued on Sunday as it absorbed a humiliating 17-7 defeat to the Colorado Rockies. Nolan Arenado, Ben Paulsen and Carlos Gonzalez each homered in a 10-run third inning to power the Rockies to the huge victory. The Reds have now lost three of their last four games.
[sc:MLB240banner ]The Reds will look to get their season right back on track when they take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of their three-game series tonight. Starting for the Reds this evening is Raisel Iglesias (1-2, 5.45 ERA). The Reds are 1-5 in Iglesias’ last six starts. He gave up two runs and six hits over 5.2 innings in Cincinnati’s 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs on July 21. It was a much better performance from Iglesias who surrendered five runs in his previous start against Miami.
Iglesias’ main problem this season, though, has been his consistency. With Iglesias still a big question mark at this point, the onus is on the Cincinnati hitters to provide some much-needed offense. Expected to lead the Reds offense tonight against the Cardinals are Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce. Phillips is 9-of-31 (.290) lifetime against St. Louis starter Lance Lynn with three doubles and five RBIs. Bruce, on the other hand, is 14-of-28 (.500) in his career against Lynn with three homers and 10 RBIs.
The Reds are 4-6 in their last 10 road games.
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Betting on the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis had its five-game unbeaten run snapped on Sunday with a narrow 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Adonis Garcia’s first career homer broke a 2-2 deadlock and rookie Matt Wisler worked seven strong innings to help the Braves avoid the three-game sweep.
The Cards will look to return to winning ways tonight when they take on the Cincinnati Reds in the opening game of their three-game set. The Cards will fancy their chances of doing just that as they have Lance Lynn (7-5, 2.80 ERA) on the mound tonight. The Cards have won seven of their last nine games with Lynn as their starter. Lynn gave up two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out eight in Wednesday’s no-decision against the Chicago White Sox.
It’s incredible to note that Lynn has yet to win a game this year when allowing one or more runs. He finished his last game with the fifth-lowest run support among all National League starters. Lynn can’t do it all alone, though, and he needs the Cards’ hitters to contribute on the offensive end as well. Expected to lead St. Louis in that department tonight is Yadier Molina. The catcher is batting 9-of-20 in his last six games with five RBIs. Molina is 1-of-2 lifetime against Reds starter Raisel Iglesias.
The Cardinals are 7-2 in their last nine home games.
Writer’s Prediction
St. Louis (-200) wins, 8-4.
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