St. Louis Cardinals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks Prediction: Can Miles Mikolas Create Early Lead for Cardinals?
The St. Louis Cardinals will wrap up the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon. Can Miles Mikolas lead the Cardinals to a strong start in this desert showdown? Ben Rajavuori provides his best bet in Cardinals vs. Diamondbacks.
Ben Rajavuori - April 14, 2024, 2:22 PM EDT
5 minSt. Louis Cardinals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks Prediction: Can Miles Mikolas Create Early Lead for Cardinals?
The St. Louis Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks close out a three-game series tonight from Chase Field in Arizona. This is a rubber match in game three as the Cardinals took game one by a score of 9–6 and the Diamondbacks bounced back yesterday with a 4–2 win. Both teams are tied this season with a record of 7–8 and look pretty evenly matched. What should we expect in this game today?
CARDINALS VS. DIAMONDBACKS DATE, TIME AND WHERE TO WATCH
- When: April 14th, 2024,
- Time: 4:15 p.m. ET
- Where to Watch: MLB Extra Innings
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS VS. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS PREDICTION
The Cardinals will send out starting pitcher Miles Mikolas today. Mikolas is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career last year, sporting a 4.78 ERA in 2023 across 35 starts. It was the highest ERA for him in a full season in his career, and he is looking to right the ship this season.
While he struggled in his first start against the Dodgers, he bounced back nicely in his next two starts. He went six innings against the Padres allowing just two earned runs and then went 6.2 innings against the Phillies allowing just two earned runs to start after that. He will look to keep the quality starts going against the Diamondbacks today.
Mikolas will battle the Diamondbacks' starter Zac Gallen today. Gallen is the ace of the Diamondback's rotation, and has been highly impressive over his career in six seasons with the Diamondbacks. He has a 3.19 ERA across 118 starts. Last year, he had a 3.47 ERA across 34 starts. He also hit 220 strikeouts last season, which was the highest of his career. Gallen has been mostly on points so far this season, allowing four earned runs in 16 innings pitched.
He has only had one quality start, however. He pitched a scoreless outing against the Yankees to start April across six innings, but gave up three runs in five innings in a 5–7 loss to the Rockies last time out. He will look to bounce back in this start today.
The Cardinals are decently sized underdogs in today’s matchup, and I will be targeting them on the first five-run line. We are getting a half run with them as the underdogs with minimal juice at -110. I love this spot for the Cardinals with Mikolas on the mound, even though they’re facing off against Gallen. The Cardinals lineup has seen Gallen pretty well in their career, as they are a combined .259 against him. Mikolas has held his own against the Diamondbacks and has posted very good numbers against them in his career. I love the Cardinals to stay competitive in this game and maybe even be leading after five innings, but we just need a tie here at worst.
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS VS. ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Pick
Pick: Cardinals First Five +.5 (-110) CLICK HERE TO SEE WHICH SPORTSBOOK HAS THE BEST ODDS
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