After splitting a four-game series by the Bay through the end of last week, the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will close out this weekend’s set under the lights of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast. San Fran entered the series on quite a roll after winning a fifth straight by sweeping the division rival Colorado Rockies in a dominant showing in front of the hometown fans. The Redbirds put an end to a mini three-game losing streak on Wednesday night to even their series up with Baltimore, and could be hunting for back-to-back series wins against the Giants dependent on how they close the series out against the O’s. Alex Wood will get the starting nod for the visitors looking to win a second straight, while the home team will counter with Adam Wainwright’s replacement as he recovers from COVID. It could amount to Packy Naughton’s second start of the baseball betting season. The pitching pairing certainly isn’t what the doctor ordered when this matchup was selected for national exposure.
First pitch for the series finale between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals is scheduled for Sunday, May 15, 2022, at 7 p.m. ET from Busch Stadium. This week’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will air live on ESPN. Bet on MLB odds and player props at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
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Odds Analysis
The Giants seem to be over that funk that stuck around since dropping two straight to the hated Dodgers and looking terrible in doing so. After losing the first two to the Cardinals in last week’s extended series, San Fran closed that series out with two wins and followed it up with a broom job of the Rox. In doing so, the Giants got back in the black for MLB bettors sitting 19 games up and 12 down $202. A bulk of that profit has been accrued on the road where it’s won eight of 13 games $186. St. Louis currently sits 2.5-games in back of the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers with a 16-13 overall record. Miles Mikolas helped lead the team to their seventh home win of the season on Hump Day night, but it only moved them to 7-6 overall when playing in front of the hometown faithful -$135. These teams just split a four-game series in San Francisco where the total juiced out with an average of 5.3 runs scored per game when you take San Fran’s surprising 13-7 win out of the equation.
Probable Pitchers
Alex Wood L: The lefty put an end to a personal two-game losing streak last time out by tossing 5.1 innings of one unearned run ball at the Rockies. He struck out four and issued two free passes for the second straight start. The effort moved him to 3-2 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.37 WHIP with opponents batting .274 against him. Surprisingly, he’s been his best away from Oracle Park where he checks in 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA and .222 BAA. That being said, under the lights has been where he’s been most hittable with his ERA swelled to 4.50 and his WHIP to 1.50. Though St. Louis hasn’t squared off against many south paw starters 6, it’s 3-3 in those games with an average of 4.8 runs scored per game. He owns a career 3.86 ERA against the Cardinals, and picked up a win against them at home last season after tossing seven innings of 1 ER ball with 6 K.
Packy Naughton L: This turn in the rotation was supposed to go to Waino. But due to coming down with the Rona at the tail end of last week, he won’t be able to exit the protocols in enough time to not miss his first start of the season. So, this will likely be another bullpen game like the one that went down Tuesday night when Naughton took the loss in a 5-3 loss to the Orioles. It proved to be a tough spot having pitched out of the pen just two days prior. The long ball got to him in the start after allowing a pair through 3.1 innings of work. He tallied two strikeouts and didn’t issue a single free pass. The left-hander has only allowed one walk through his 6.1 total innings of work. Should he get the start, this will be a very tough spot with the Giants 5-1 and averaging 5.7 runs per game against left-handed pitching.
Giants vs. Cardinals Prediction
San Francisco could find itself in a position to sweep this series on Sunday night with Logan Webb going in the opener followed by Carlos Rodon. The Giants undeniably own a heavy starting pitching advantage with St. Louis countering with Steven Matz and Dakota Hudson. They’ll own it again Sunday night with the Redbirds forced to go with a bullpen committee. As solid the Cardinals have been in the bullpen to date No. 6, I’m figuring their better arms will be called upon in the first two games should they hold late inning leads. If their best arms are available for this one, all bets are off. If not, I can see the Giants running away with this one in a game that could see some crooked numbers hit the board.
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