Upcoming Match-ups

Cardinals vs Pirates Picks and Odds (May 20)

Robert Duff

by Robert Duff in MLB Baseball

Updated May 20, 2022 · 11:26 AM PDT

St Louis Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Apr 10, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) hits a two run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
  • The St Louis Cardinals are -150 road favorites over the Pittsburgh Pirates as they open a three-game weekend National League series on Friday, May 20
  • St Louis is 13-3 straight up in the club’s last 16 games played at Pittsburgh
  • All the Cardinals vs Pirates odds, predictions, and best bets are examined in the story below

Should the Pittsburgh Pirates be drawing inspiration from the fact that the New York Mets finally got the better of the St Louis Cardinals?

Prior to arriving at PNC Park, the Cards dropped a series to the Mets for the first time since 2018. St Louis owns a 13-3 straight up edge over the Pirates in the past 16 games played between the two clubs in Pittsburgh.

They’ll open a three-game weekend series on Friday and oddsmakers are staying with the Cardinals. St Louis is a -150 road favorite over the Pirates in Friday’s series opener.  The Cards are 5-7 against the runline over their past 12 games.

Cardinals vs Pirates Odds

Team Moneyline Runline Total
St Louis Cardinals -150 -1.5 (+110) Over 8 (-120)
Pittsburgh Pirates +130 +1.5 (-130) Under 8 (+100)

Odds as of May 19th at Caesars Sportsbook.

 

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First pitch at PNC Park is slated for 6:35 pm ET on Friday, May 20. In the weather forecast, there’s clouds, 12 mph wind and a temperature of 85 degrees. At a favored moneyline of -150, St Louis is being given a 60% implied probability of victory in this game.

The Cardinals are the +230 second betting option in the NL Central odds. You’ll get +35000 odds on the Pirates to take the NL Central crown, should you be so bold. In the World Series odds, St Louis is the ninth option among NL clubs at a betting line of +3500.

The public is in lockstep with the oddsmakers in their support of St Louis. The MLB betting trends are showing 59% of the bets placed against the spread are on the Cardinals at -1.5. As well, the moneyline splits show 59% of the bets are on the Cardinals at -150 odds. In keeping with this trends, 59% of the public bets are on the Under (8).

St Louis vs Pittsburgh Probable Pitchers

Adam Wainwright, the 40-year-old right-hander, just keeps on trucking for the Cardinals. He’s 21-10 over his last 39 starts going back to the beginning of last season. Wainwright is also old-school durable. He led the NL in complete games in both 2020 (2) and 2021 (3).

Wainwright has worked at least five innings in all but one of his seven starts this season. That staying power has enabled him to figure in the decision in all seven starts. He’s struck out 33 against only 15 walks.

Facing Pittsburgh in his first start of the season on opening day, Wainwright hurled six scoreless innings and got the win in a 9-0 shutout. Against the Pirates over his career, Wainwright is an impressive 22-7 with a 3.65 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. At PNC Park, he’s 10-4 for a .714 win percentage and with a 4.74 ERA.

Wainwright vs Thompson

Adam Wainwright
VS
Zach Thompson
4-3 Record 2-3
3.15 ERA 5.47
3.89 xERA 4.54
1.23 WHIP 1.52
2.20 SO/W Ratio 1.69

Pirates right-hander Zach Thompson is unbeaten (2-0) in three May appearances, including two starts. Thompson won in relief in the second game of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on May 4.

He hasn’t allowed a run in 12 innings of work during the month. Thompson was 0-3 with a 10.05 ERA in four April starts.

He’s made one career appearance against St Louis, working a scoreless inning in relief. At PNC Park he’s 1-1 in three starts with a 3.77 ERA.

Batting Average vs Starting Pitchers

Cardinals Batters Batting Average vs Thompson Pirates Batters Batting Average vs Wainwright
Nolan Arenado .000 Diego Castillo .000
Harrison Bader .000 Rodolfo Castro .000
Dylan Carlson .000 Michael Chavis .000
Corey Dickerson .000 Ben Gamel .077
Brendan Donovan .000 Ke’Bryan Hayes .000
Tommy Edman .000 Tyler Heineman .000
Paul Goldschmidt .000 Michael Perez .000
Nolan Gorman .000 Bryan Reynolds .222
Andrew Knizner .000 Jack Suwinski .000
Yadier Molina .000 Yoshi Tsutsugo .200
Albert Pujols .000 Josh VanMeter .167
Edmundo Sosa .000 Daniel Vogelbach .154
Juan Yepez .000

Pittsburgh’s Daniel Vogelbach is just 2-for-13 (.154) when facing Wainwright but one of his hits was a solo homer. Bryan Reynolds is 6-for-27 (.222) off of Wainwright.

No Cardinals hitter has ever faced Thompson in an MLB game.

Cardinals vs Pirates Prediction

St Louis has lost two in a row and three of four. Pittsburgh has won one in a row, which is a winning streak for the woeful Pirates. Taking recency bias into account, it might be tempting to wager on the Bucs.

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Then you look at Wainwright’s career mark against the Pirates and the overall St Louis success at Pittsburgh and you think this is not the time to do something silly.

Pick: St Louis Cardinals ML (-150)

 

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