The St. Louis Cardinals are getting hot and it could be trouble for the National League and the visiting Washington Nationals tonight. The Cards are riding a seven-game win streak coming into this game and are 11-2 SU in 13 games in August. St. Louis will have rookie Austin Gomber on the mound to face the Nats and it will be his first start at home in his career. The Cardinals have been victorious in his three starts in 2018 and opened as slight faves to complete the sweep of the struggling Nats.
- The Nationals are 2-5 SU in their last 7 road games with Jeremy Hellickson as the starter.
- The Cardinals are 8-2 SU in their last 10 games at home.
- The UNDER has hit in 14 of the Nationals’ last 17 games with Jeremy Hellickson as the starter.
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The Nats are in Must-Win Mode
The Nationals will lean on Jeremy Hellickson to bust them out of this slump as Washington is 2-6 SU in its last eight games and sits eight games back of the Braves in the NL East. Hellickson sports a tidy 3.10 ERA on the road but the Nats have dropped three straight road games with Hellickson as the starter and five of his last seven away games. In his most recent start, he was the victim of bad luck as he took the no-decision after holding the Cubs to two runs off of no hits. In his career vs the Cardinals, he owns a 4.13 ERA and has allowed eight homers over 32.2 innings of work.
As for the Cards, they’ll lean on Austin Gomber, who was moved from the bullpen to the starting rotation but has been decent in his 12 appearances at home with a 2.92 ERA. In his most recent outing, he limited the Royals to four hits and no earned runs in a 7-0 victory. With the way St. Louis has been playing lately, Gomber could be a fixture in the rotation going forward if he has another quality start tonight.
Cardinals are Taking Care of Business at Busch Stadium
The Cardinals are a team that bettors can’t fully write off until it’s over. St. Louis sits four games back of the Cubs for the NL Central lead and is in the thick of the race for the wild card among eight to 10 teams. Since the all-star break, the Cards are second in batting average, sixth in runs per game, sixth in OPS, sixth in homers and second in RBIs and are 17-9 SU in 26 games. They’ve done most of their damage at home, going 8-2 SU in their last 10 games at Busch Stadium with Matt Carpenter leading the way with seven homers in August to go with 12 RBIs.
Totals Bettors May Want to Wager on the UNDER
The total opened at 9 in this tilt and bettors should heavily consider the UNDER. The UNDER has hit in 14 of the Nationals’ 17 games with Jeremy Hellickson as the starter with an average combined score of 7.11 runs per game. When you factor in that the UNDER has hit in 16 of the Nationals’ last 22 games on the road vs teams with winning records, UNDER bettors could be in line for more profit tonight.
