St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals Preview
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
When: Monday, April 10, 2017, 7:05 PM ET
Line: St. Louis Cardinals (+113) at Washington Nationals (-123); total: 8.5 – view all MLB lines
TV Broadcast: FS-M, MASN
Betting on the St. Louis Cardinals (2-4)
The St. Louis Cardinals have seemingly hit rock bottom after their 8-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds this Sunday. They salvaged just two wins from their six-game homestand to start the season, and that blowout was their second shutout defeat to the Reds as well.
Without rightfielder Stephen Piscotty (knee) for a second-consecutive game, St. Louis’ offense has become very inconsisent. The team needs a performance like the one that Aledmys Diaz put up in Saturday’s contest, wherein the second-year player out of Cuba hit two homers for four RBIs. However as a shortstop, you can’t count on Diaz to provide those dingers on a constant basis.
Unfortunately, the Cards’ main sluggers in Matts Carpenter and Adams have yet to find their respective grooves, as the two have combined to go just 3-for-23 with three runs and a couple of runs batted-in this season. We’re not certain if the team will fare any better this Monday against Washington’s Tanner Roark, who’s only seen 27 at-bats from St. Louis players in his career, having allowed just one run and not a single homer thus far.
The task is now up to starter Adam Wainwright (0-1, 3.60 ERA) to lead his team to victory. Wainwright has actually made a solid case for himself against the Nats; he’s gone 8-3 with a cool 2.99 ERA in 14 games (12 starts) against the boys from the nation’s Capital.
Betting on the Washington Nationals (3-3)
The 4-3 defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies marked the first time this young season that the Washington Nationals suffered back-to-back losses.
The Nationals’ three losses thus far were mainly due to the fact that they scored just three runs in each of those contests as opposed to the three victories wherein they broke that three-run barrier.
Considering that Washington will face St. Louis’ Wainwright up next, you can expect a high-scoring output from the team this Monday. Daniel Murphy is 8-of-17 with two RBIs and Bryce Harper sports a solid .391 batting average versus Wainwright, with the two combining for eight extra-base hits against the 35-year-old righty.
And as we’ve mentioned earlier, Tanner Roark (1-0, 3.00 ERA) does have a pretty decent chance of shutting down the Cards’ unstable offense. He came out with a winning decision in his first start of the season against the Marlins, having limited the Nats’ NL East rivals to just two runs on three hits in six innings of work last Wednesday.
A return to D.C. is just what Washington needs to prevent its current skid from getting worse. The Nats won two of three home games in the season-opening series against Miami and five of their last eight at Nationals Park dating back to the previous season.
Writer’s Prediction
The Nationals (-123) pick up a sweet 6-2 home win.
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