Pirates vs. Cardinals prediction and odds for Sunday, Sept. 3 (Perfect Roadtrip?)

The Pittsburgh Pirates might think about relocating to Missouri because between Kansas City and St. Louis, they are 5-0 on this current road trip. Last night, it took some ninth inning heroics from Josh Palacios who hit a go-ahead pinch-hit home run in the ninth in their 7-6 win. Now, the Cardinals are last in the division at 58-78 and five games behind the 63-73 Pirates.

For the series finale the Pirates will send former Cardinal Johan Oviedo to the mound for the 28th time this season. Oviedo is 8-13 with a 4.20 ERA and will be opposed by 3-5 Zack Thompson who has a 3.92 ERA in 20 previous appearances, just four of those were starts. 

I’ll give you my pick and whether you want to back me or fade me you can do it in the DraftKings Sportsbook with this great promo. Just click the link below, sign up, deposit $5, bet on this matchup, and then collect $200 in bonus bets win or lose.

Now, let’s get into the odds for this NL Central showdown at Busch Stadium. 

Pirates vs. Cardinals odds, run line and total

Pirates vs. Cardinals prediction and pick

Last night was a real jolt of excitement for the Pirates who have actually played pretty impressive baseball over the second half of the season.

A lot of their younger players have been contributing to the success and Liover Peguero has been particularly impressive. He had two hits last night and since coming up on July 17, Peguero has driven in 20 runs and has hit six homers. He has a .768 OPS and a wRC+ of 104 with four steals. He has four hits and a walk in this series and has scored twice. 

I’m really not worried about the Pittsburgh offense because over the last 30 days they are 12th in runs scored. However, I don’t like how they matchup against lefties like Thompson and I’m not sure what kind of performance we’ll get from Johan Oviedo. 

Last time out Oviedo threw a complete game two-hit shutout against the Royals, but the entire season he’s been very up and down from start to start. I think he can give them a chance to win tonight because while I don’t like how Pittsburgh matches up against lefties, Zack Thompson hasn’t gone more than five innings in a start all year. St. Louis’s bullpen is 22nd in baseball with a 4.86 ERA since August first and the Pirates have beaten the Cardinals nine times in 12 tries this season.

I’ll take the Bucs to finish off the sweep and the perfect road trip. 

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change