St. Louis Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Pirates Prediction 9-1-23 MLB Picks
The Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals meet Friday in MLB action from Busch Stadium. The Pirates are coming off a series versus the Royals, winning the first pair of games. In the finale Pittsburgh bagged a three-run win. As for St. Louis, they played the Padres in their last set. After a split in the first two, in the Wednesday rubber match the Cardinals eked out a close win. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates took care of the Royals 5-0 in the Monday opener of their series then bagged a 6-3 win in game two. Pittsburgh’s Liover Peguero (three RBI) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (two RBI) each hit a home run in that victory. On Wednesday the Pirates were up 3-0 after two innings and cruised to a 4-1 win. Jack Suwinski (two RBI) and Bryan Reynolds each had a home run.
As starting pitcher on Friday the Pirates will go with Mitch Keller. Over 27 starts this year Keller is 11-8 with a 4.01 ERA and 179 strikeouts over 163.2 innings. Keller is 2-3 with a 4.87 ERA in his last seven starts.
Pittsburgh Pirates Team Facts
- The Pirates have won each of their last six night games against teams that held a losing record.
- The Pirates have covered the run line each of their last six night games against teams that held a losing record.
- The Pirates have led after 5 innings in four of their last five games as road underdogs against NL Central opponents.
- The 'Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the Pirates' last six games as underdogs against NL Central opponents.
- The Pirates have led after 7 innings in four of their last five games as road underdogs against NL Central opponents.
St. Louis Cardinals
Over on the Cardinals’ side, they lost to the Padres 4-1 in the Monday matchup then bounced back for a tight 6-5 win in game two thanks in part to Wilson Contreras’ two homers and three RBI. On Wednesday St. Louis came back from an early 3-0 deficit to power out a walk-off win 5-4. Jordan Walker had a three-run homer and four hits, while Tommy Edman closed things off with a two-run shot.
Dakota Hudson will take the mound for the Friday start for the Cards. This year in his 12 games (six starts) Hudson is 5-1 with a 4.41 ERA And 33 Ks in 49.0 innings. Hudson is 4-1 with a 5.00 ERA in his last seven games (five starts).
St. Louis Cardinals Team Facts
- The Cardinals have lost each of their last seven games as favorites against NL Central opponents following a home win.
- The Cardinals have failed to cover the run line in each of their last seven games as favorites against NL Central opponents following a home win.
- The Cardinals have lost the first inning in each of their last three Friday games as favorites.
- The 'Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the Cardinals' last nine games as favorites against NL Central opponents.
- The Cardinals have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three Friday night games as favorites.
Matchup/League Facts
- The St. Louis Cardinals ranks 1st in the league for home runs allowed this season (136).
- The St. Louis Cardinals ranks 29th in the league for opponent batting average this season (.276).
- The Pittsburgh Pirates ranks 27th in the league for hits this season (1044).
- The Pittsburgh Pirates ranks 27th in the league for batting average this season (.235).
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to take a stab on the Cardinals here. Hudson needs a good bounce-back start, though. In his last outing Hudson put up a loss in Philly with 5.2 innings, five earned, six hits and five walks. Prior to that however, Hudson had four earned in a span of 12.0 innings during a pair of wins. In their last series St. Louis started out with an offensive dud but came back to score 11 runs over the next two games. The Cardinals allowed nine on the other side in that time however, so it’s going to be up to the pitching staff to keep things honest. I’ll probably stay away from this one but I’m still leaning St. Louis.
