Don’t look now, but the St. Louis Cardinals are just four games back in the NL Central. There are so many great stories in MLB right now with teams making a second-half push for playoff spots and St. Louis just is the latest. The Cards won their eighth straight game Wednesday night and look to complete a four-game sweep of the Nationals, who have lost seven of their last nine. Matt Carpenter was removed from Wednesday’s game after being hit by a pitch but is expected to be in the lineup tonight. St. Louis opened as the favorite.
- St. Louis is hitting .301 with a .853 OPS in August – tops in the NL.
- The Nationals are 8-26 SU in their last 34 games on the road against the Cardinals.
- The Cardinals are 7-0 SU in their last seven games against right-handed starting pitchers.
Nationals vs Cardinals Matchup Page
Roark Has Career Numbers Since the All-Star Break
If the Nationals are going to halt the Cardinals’ run, they’ve got a great candidate on the mound. Tanner Roark (7-12, 4.12 ERA, 1.28 WHIP) is in the middle of the best stretch of his career. He’s won his last four starts and has an ERA of 1.21 and a 0.84 WHIP since the all-star break. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Roark – opponents were hitting .268 against him prior to the break and .213 since.
Luke Weaver (6-10, 4.66 ERA, 1.40 WHIP) is slated to make his 24th start of the year for St. Louis after missing his last scheduled start with finger issues. Weaver has a 3.31 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP in his last six starts and has pitched at least six innings in four of his last six outings. This will be his first career start vs Washington.
St. Louis is The Hottest-Hitting Team in the NL This Month
The Cards are slashing .301/.373/.480 in the month of August for an OPS of .853 – all National League bests. St. Louis is plating an average of 5.42 runs per game, also tops in the senior circuit.
Of course, Matt Carpenter’s seven home runs and 11 RBIs are the attention grabber, but he’s had plenty of support from the rest of the lineup. Paul DeJong has clobbered four homers and 10 RBIs while Jose Martinez also has double-digit runs driven in to go with his .388 batting average. Kolten Wong, Harrison Bader, Marcell Ozuna and Yadier Molina are all hitting over .300 in August to boot.
Totals Trends
The total opened at 8.5 for tonight’s game in Missouri after three of the last four games in this matchup have gone OVER with a total combined score of 9.5. Eight of the last 12 games started by Tanner Roark have hit the OVER, with an average combined score of 11.58, and all but one of those had a closing total of 8.5 or above.
The total has gone UNDER in five of Luke Weaver’s last seven starts at Busch Stadium with an average combined score of 8.0 while the total has gone UNDER in 33 of Washington’s last 47 road games, with an average combined score of 7.34.
