St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves Betting Preview/Prop Picks
04 July 2022
The St. Louis Cardinals are 44-37 this season and rank second in the NL Central. Tonight, they’ll face the Atlanta Braves, who are second in the NL East.
The pitching battle will be an interesting one to watch today, especially after the Cardinals’ loss yesterday. The Phillies were able to beat St. Louis 4-0 in a game they should’ve won. Now they face a tougher opponent.
The Atlanta Braves are 46-34 this season with a 24-17 record at home. They themselves are coming off of a loss to the Cincinnati Reds yesterday.
They’ve won three of their last five games, but the two losses were to the Reds and the Phillies. With each of these teams struggling against the Phillies, it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. In the end, it’s all about pitching.
St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals have a slight edge tonight
As we mentioned above, this game will be all about pitching. However, the batting for the Cardinals has also been impressive this season.
With a team batting average of .253, the Cardinals rank sixth overall in Major League Baseball. They also have an on-base percentage of .320, ranking 11th overall. In both categories, they have an edge over the Atlanta Braves.
On the mound for the Cardinals tonight is the 6-4 Dakota Hudson. Hudson has an ERA of 3.83 over the course of 80 innings. However, in those 80 innings, he’s only thrown 44 strikeouts and has allowed 72 hits.
Going against the Braves batters could be tough for Hudson. In one of his most recent starts, he lost to the Milwaukee Brewers 6-4. Keep an eye on Hudson tonight.
Atlanta Braves: Wright gets the nod for the Braves in this one
The Atlanta Braves will be sending out one of their best tonight, Kyle Wright. Before we take a look at him, we’ll take a look at their batting group. As a team, the Braves have a team batting average of .248, ranking 12th in MLB.
They’ve also scored 378 runs this season which ranks sixth overall. Most importantly, the Braves rank first in MLB in terms of slugging percentage.
With a slugging percentage of .442, the Braves could be in a good position to win this. With Wright on the mound, their chances go up as well. Wright has an ERA of 3.03 this season with a record of 9-4.
He’s pitched 92 innings this season and has notched a total of 96 strikeouts. This game will be decided between which batters can get past these impressive pitchers first.
St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves Betting Pick
When looking at each of these teams, you can see they have a few things in common. Each team is starting a strong pitcher, but there’s one major difference. The batting of the Cardinals is leagues ahead of the Braves, which is what will make the difference here.
The Cardinals come into this game as +146 underdogs, which we definitely like. They also have an average record on the road this season. Along with the Cardinals, we’ll take the under as well. In four of their last five games, the total has gone under.
DunkleIndex Free Pick: St. Louis Cardinals +146, UNDER
Prop Picks
Atlanta (+110) UNDER 4.5 Runs
St. Louis is allowing 3.99 runs per 9 innings on defense, which ranks No. 8 in the league, while giving up 0.99 HRs, which ranks No. 9. Scores have gone UNDER in four of the Cardinals’ last five games overall.
With Dunkel predicting a St. Louis victory by the score of 4-3, take the Braves (+110) to finish UNDER their Vegas team total of 4.5 runs against the Cardinals.
Dakota Hudson (-120) UNDER 5.5 Hits Allowed
Hudson has allowed 72 hits in 80 innings pitched this season. The Cardinals right hander has allowed 37 hits in 41.1 innings pitched on the road with an OBA of .252.
With Dunkel predicting a Cardinals road victory while keeping the Braves UNDER their Vegas team run total, take Hudson (-120) to finish UNDER 5.5 hits allowed versus Atlanta.
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