Lance Lynn (4-4, 3.07 ERA) and the St. Louis Cardinals (40-21) go up against Jeremy Guthrie (4-3, 5.82 ERA) and the Kansas City Royals (34-24) in the second of a three-game interleague series at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals won the last game 4-0 and St. Louis leads the series 1-0. The game starts at 4:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jun. 13 and will air on FSN-KC and FSN-MW.
Lynn is 0-1 with a 6.38 ERA against the Royals in his career, and is up against a strong Kansas City offense that’s hitting .267 on the year. Jhonny Peralta (.323, 30 Rs, 10 HRs, 35 RBIs, 1 SB) continued his strong season yesterday, going 3 for 4. In his pitching opportunities against the Cardinals, Guthrie is 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA. He gets a solid St. Louis offense that’s batting .262. Eric Hosmer (.300, 33 Rs, 7 HRs, 36 RBIs, 3 SBs) went 1 for 4 yesterday.
St. Louis is a -145 favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is seven runs. The Cardinals perform well as a favorite with a 30-11 record and have an overall money line of +1,579. They have a 2-2 record when they were the favorite and 4-5 SU against the American League. The Cardinals seem to play worse on offense against American League opponents. In those matchups, St. Louis has only averaged 3.0 runs per game compared to its 4.0 season average. They have been very patient at the plate, ranking fifth in the NL with an average of 3.1 walks per game. St. Louis’s pitching staff performs very well on its own field, with an AL-best 2.52 team ERA at home.
On the other side, the Royals have a nice record of 15-10 when they are the underdog and are +918 overall with the money line. When playing Teams in the National League, they have a 4-1 as the favorite and 5-2 SU. During the last 10 games, they averaged 2.6 runs per game, below their 4.4 season average. The top road hitting team in the AL are the Royals, who average 9.8 hits in games away from home. Opposing pitchers have routinely struggled to strike out the Kansas City batters, who average an AL-low 5.9 strikeouts per game. The Royals are one of the top pitching staffs in the AL, essentially shutting down opponents to the tune of 3.5 runs allowed per game.
The Cardinals will take on a right-hander (Guthrie) in this game. They have done very well against right-handed starting pitchers this season (32-14), especially at home where they have a 19-4 record. The right-handed Lynn will take the mound against the Royals, who have a 24-16 record against righty starters this season.
Predictions: SU Winner – STL, O/U – Over
Notes
When leading after 7 innings, St. Louis is 14-6, while Kansas City is 16-7.
The Cardinals are coming into this game after allowing zero walks during their last outing. The Royals have a 0-8 record when opponents give up that many walks.
When they are outhit, the Royals are 2-19. The Cardinals have a 9-14 record when opponents outhit them.
St. Louis and Kansas City both rank near the bottom of the league in home runs. St. Louis sits at 26th with 46 home runs this season and Kansas City ranks 28th with 43.
St. Louis and Kansas City both rank in the top five of the league in hits. St. Louis sits at fifth with 8.90 hits per game and Kansas City ranks second with 9.18.
Both St. Louis and Kansas City are tied at 11th for their on-base plus slugging percentage of .719.
The Royals are 15-16 in games where they allow one or more home runs. The Cardinals are 16-14 when they allow at least one homer.
