St. Louis Cardinals at Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview/Prop Picks

The St. Louis Cardinals, second in the NL Central, face off against the Tampa Bay Rays tonight. The Cardinals have won three of their last five games and are currently on a two-game win streak.

With the Cardinals fighting their way up the NL Central, they’ll need to win even more. The good news is they’re only 0.5 games away from passing up the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Tampa Bay Rays are 31-23 and rank third in the AL East. In terms of standings, they’re following closely behind Toronto but are eight games away from the New York Yankees. As they prepare to face the Cardinals, the Rays will need to be strong at the plate.

Each of these teams has a few good batters, so keep that in mind. Let’s make our pick for the winner tonight.

St. Louis Cardinals: Dakota Hudson will take the mound tonight

Leading off as the pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals is Dakota Hudson. Hudson has done pretty well this season, with a record of 4-2 as a starter. He has an ERA of 2.96 over the course of 51.2 innings pitched.

Tonight, he’ll face the batters of the Tampa Bay Rays, who as a team are batting .231. Hudson has only allowed four home runs in all those innings, so that’s a good sign.

At the plate, the Cardinals are batting .254 as a team, ranking fifth overall in MLB. They’ve scored 269 runs this season, ranking fourth, and have an on-base percentage of .323. Still, they come into this game as the underdogs.

The reason is that they’re on the road and facing a tough Tampa Bay team. The question is, can they overcome these odds and secure a road win?

Tampa Bay Rays: Tampa needs a lot from their batters tonight

One thing that the Rays will definitely need is a lot of great batting from their hitters. Taking on Hudson won’t be easy, especially with his 2.96 ERA. One player that Tampa can rely on is Yandy Diaz, who leads the team in batting average.

Diaz has an average of .282 with an incredible .422 on-base percentage. This is who they’ll look to for a spark tonight.

Getting the start on the mound for the Rays is Jeffrey Springs, who has a 2-2 record. Springs has pitched 38.1 innings so far this year and has an ERA of 1.88. His ERA is actually better than Hudson’s, but he’s also pitched fewer innings.

The good part about pitching fewer innings is that he’s a lot more fresh than Hudson. We’ll have to see if that’s enough for a win tonight. 

St. Louis Cardinals at Tampa Bay Rays Betting Pick

There are a lot of similarities between these two teams. Both the Cardinals and Rays are starting good pitchers and have relatively good batting teams. However, the Rays get the benefit of playing at home, which we think will be the difference tonight. 

Over their last six games against Tampa Bay, the Cardinals are 1-5. The Cardinals also have a long list of players that are currently on the IL. So, between these two teams, we’ll have to go with the Tampa Bay Rays -146, and we’ll take the over.

DunkelIndex Free Pick: Tampa Bay Rays -146, OVER

Prop Picks

Tampa Bay (+115) OVER 4.5 Runs

St. Louis is allowing 3.91 runs per 9 innings on defense, which ranks No. 7 in the league. That average increases to 4.00 runs per 9 innings on the road. Scores have gone OVER in 18 of the Cardinals’ last 24 games versus AL East opponents.

With Dunkel predicting a Tampa Bay victory by the score of 5-4, take the Rays (+115) to finish OVER their Vegas team total of 4.5 runs against the Cardinals.

Dakota Hudson (+120) OVER 5.5 Hits Allowed

Hudson has given up 44 hits in 51.2 innings pitched this season. The righthander has given up just 20 hits in 26.2 innings pitched (.206 batting average) at home compared to 24 hits in 25.0 innings pitched (.270 batting average) on the road.

With Dunkel predicting a Tampa Bay home win while going OVER its Vegas team run total, take Hudson (+120) to finish OVER 5.5 Hits Allowed against the Rays.

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