St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Prediction, Picks and Preview – July 10, 2015

It only seems fitting that the Pittsburgh Pirates’ five-game win streak would be stopped by the best team in baseball today—the St. Louis Cardinals. Tonight, the Pirates try to return to their winning ways when they send Gerrit Cole to the mound. As for the Cardinals, they’ll counter Cole with Lance Lynn, who is on a great run of late.

For more baseball previews, you can click here for our breakdown of LA Angels vs. Seattle and here for Houston vs. Tampa Bay.
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St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Preview

Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh

When: Friday, July 10, 2015, 7:05 PM ET

Line:  St. Louis Cardinals (+118) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (-128); total: 6.5 – view all MLB lines

Betting on the St. Louis Cardinals

[sc:MLB240banner ]After another spectacular performance by Carlos Martinez on Thursday, the Cardinals look to build another win streak when they hand the ball to Lance Lynn later tonight.

Lynn appears to be up to the task of duplicating Martinez’s feat in St. Louis’ 4-1 win over the Bucs Thursday, as he is coming off a superb performance himself. Against the Padres on Saturday, Lynn held San Diego down to just one earned run on three hits, while striking out eight in seven frames to lead St. Louis to a 3-1 victory. Since being inserted back to the rotation after a stint to the disabled list early June, Lynn has allowed made three starts, allowing just one run in 19 total innings of duty.

Still, the Cards’ can’t be too complacent when Lynn takes the mound at PNC Park, as the right-hander hasn’t been as great on the road as he has been at Busch Stadium this season. So far this year, Lynn is 2-3 with a 3.35 ERA in seven road starts. On the flipside, he is 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA in eight starts in St. Louis.  The Cards are 3-1 in Lynn’s last four road starts.

Jhonny Peralta and Jason Heyward, the usual suspects for the Cards’ offense of late, struggled mightily in the series opener against Pittsburgh, as they went hitless in six total at-bats. Both men, however, remain as the Cards’ best hitters this month. Peralta is 9-for-36 (.250) with four RBIs in nine games thus far this July, while Heyward is 10-for-35 (.286) with two doubles and two RBIs.

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Betting on the Pittsburgh Pirates

The sight of Gerrit Cole (12-3, 2.28 ERA) on the mound often translates to a win for the Pirates this season. Hopefully for the Bucs, that will still be the case when the All-Star-bound right-hander makes his last start of the season’s first half later tonight. The Pirates are 8-2 in Cole’s last 10 starts overall.

Cole flashed his All-Star form again in an eight-inning performance against Cleveland on Saturday. Cole gave up three earned runs, three hits, and a walk, while also striking out five hitters, as the Pirates eked out a 5-3 victory. Cole enters matchup with the Cards as the majors’ leader in wins and 12th in strikeouts with 113 K’s to date.

As for the offense, Pittsburgh must get more from Gregory Polanco, who replaced the injured Josh Harrison (thumb) at the top of the order. Polanco hit just 4-for-23 (.174) over his last seven games, but batted better since taking over the leadoff spot. In his last three games, Polanco has hit 3-for-10 (.333), which includes a 1-for-3 outing in the loss to St. Louis on Thursday. Jody Mercer, meanwhile, must be licking his chops at the prospect of facing Lynn.

Mercer, who is hitting only .182 over his last seven games, is a career .385 (5-for-13) hitter against the Cardinals’ pitcher.

Writer’s Prediction

St. Louis (+118) wins, 3-2.
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