St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds, 7/25/2018 Prediction & Preview
The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds will play the rubber match of their series at 12:35 p.m. ET. Following two low-scoring games between the division rivals, will the offense break out on Wednesday?
Game Snapshot & Odds
955 St. Louis Cardinals at 956 Cincinnati Reds
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
12:35 p.m. ET, Great American Ball Park
TV: STL (FSMW); CIN (FSO)
Public Betting Trends
Oddsmakers from online sportsbooks currently list the Cardinals as a -135 favorite. As of this writing, 65% of the betting tickets wagered at online sportsbooks are on the Cardinals to beat the Reds on the moneyline.
Cardinals’ Flaherty allows one run in win over Cubs
Jack Flaherty tossed five innings of one-run ball in Friday’s blowout victory over the Cubs. Flaherty cruised with the benefit of a big lead, allowing just two hits on the day, with the only run scoring on a Willson Contreras homer in the second inning. The rookie right-hander struck out nine and walked four to secure his fourth win. He’s deserved a lot better. Flaherty holds an impressive 3.15 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 96/28 K/BB ratio in 80 innings through his 15 starts this season.
Reds’ Romano pitches into the eighth inning vs. Indians
Sal Romano yielded four runs — three earned — in 7 1/3 innings Tuesday against the Indians. While he struck out just one all night, Romano ended up having a nice outing despite giving up two homers in the first. It goes down as his sixth quality start in 19 tries this season. He’s 5-8 with a 5.28 ERA.
MLB Betting Trends
St. Louis
The Cardinals are 1-5 in Flathery’s last six starts.
Cincinnati
The Reds have won five of Romano’s last six outings.
Prediction:
The first two games of this series were both low-scoring but I see a reversal today. This ball park is to hitter-friendly to have three straight games fall under the betting total by a wide margin. Plus, the over is 5-0 in Jeff Kellogg’s last five games behind home plate and is 4-0-2 in Romano’s last six home starts. After two tightly-contested games, I see this one getting out of hand from an offensive standpoint.
The Pick: Cardinals/Reds over 9.5
