Jaime Garcia (2-3, 1.76 ERA) takes the mound for the St. Louis Cardinals (46-24) as they go up against Mat Latos (2-4, 5.37 ERA) and the Miami Marlins (30-42) in the second of a three-game series at Marlins Park. The Cardinals won the last game 4-3 and St. Louis leads the series 1-0. The game gets underway at 7:10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jun. 24 and will air on FSN-MW and FSN-FL.
Latos has a 5.69 ERA and a 5-5 record in his career against the Cardinals, and faces a strong St. Louis offense that’s hitting .265 on the year. Giancarlo Stanton (.261, 46 Rs, 26 HRs, 66 RBIs, 4 SBs) went 1 for 3 yesterday with one run, one home run, and two RBIs. In his pitching opportunities against the Marlins, Garcia is 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He gets a solid Miami offense that’s batting .258.
Miami is a small underdog (+102) and the Over/Under (O/U) is seven runs. The Marlins perform poorly as an underdog with a 15-23 record and have an overall money line of -1,255. Over their past 10 games, Miami’s pitchers have been playing lights out, only allowing 3.0 runs per game, below their season average of 4.1.
Switching to the opposing bench, the Cardinals come into this game with a solid win percentage of .720 when playing as the favorite (36-14) and an overall money line of +1,734. They have played at the top of their game when rated as favorite recently. They managed a 7-3 record when playing as the favorite and an SU record of 7-3. The Cardinals are a problem for opposing batters, sporting an NL-low 2.71 ERA this season. They also allow just 2.7 walks per game, good for fifth in the NL.
So far this season, the Cardinals are 1-0 against the Marlins. This game will feature Garcia (LHP) on the mound against the Marlins, who have an 8-7 record when they take on a left-handed starter. The right-handed Latos will take the mound against the Cardinals. Against righty starters this season, they’ve racked up an impressive 38-15 record.
Predictions: SU Winner – STL, O/U – Over
Notes
When leading after 7 innings, St. Louis is 18-8, while Miami is 14-23.
The Miami batters brought in a solid 10 hits last game. St. Louis has a record of 11-10 when their opponents get that many hits or more.
When they are outhit, the Marlins are 4-27. The Cardinals have an 11-16 record when opponents outhit them.
St. Louis ranks near the bottom of the league at 22nd when it comes to home runs, hitting 58 this season. Miami ranks in the bottom half at 19th with 60.
Miami and St. Louis both rank in the top five of the league in hits. Miami sits at fifth with 8.80 hits per game and St. Louis ranks fourth with 8.97.
Ranking 20th, Miami is in the bottom half of the league for its on-base plus slugging percentage (.692). St. Louis ranks in the top 10 at ninth with an OPS of .732.
When the Cardinals allow at least one home run, they are 20-16. When the Marlins allow one or more homers, they have a 13-27 record.
