The St. Louis Cardinals (13-15) travel to face off against the Detroit Tigers (16-12) on Monday, April 29th. This game will be played at Comerica Park in Detroit and televised on BSDET. The Tigers are coming off a win in their previous game, while the Cardinals are looking to get back on track from a loss to the Mets. First pitch is set for 6:40 ET.
Cardinals vs Tigers
St. Louis closed out their series vs. the Mets with a 4-2 loss. Heading into the game, the Cardinals were the +117 underdog on the money line. Things started off well for the Cardinals, as they got on the board with a run in the 5th inning but gave up the lead right away as the Mets scored three times in the bottom of the 5th.
Lance Lynn took the loss for the Cardinals, going five innings and giving up four earned runs on five hits. He only had three strikeouts in the outing and issued the game’s only walk. Offensively, the Cardinals only had two fewer hits than the Mets but scored just two runs. Both of their runs came in the 5th inning.
St. Louis is 5th in the NL Central, trailing the Brewers by 4.5 games. So far, they have yet to win a game against an NL Central opponent, going 0-3. The Cardinals are 13-15 overall, and they lost the final game of their series vs. the Mets.
The Cardinals have won two straight games when favored, and they are 7-6 as the favorite this year. As for their record as the underdog, the Cardinals are 6-9. They are just below .500 overall and have gone 8-8 on the road compared to 5-7 at home. St. Louis’ overall series record is 5-4, and they have won two straight series.
St. Louis is 16-12 vs. the run line this season, and they’ve covered in two straight games. They’ve been a better bet on the run line as an underdog (10-5) than as a favorite (6-7). Their average run margin in wins is +2.5, while it’s -3.7 in losses.
St. Louis has gone under the over/under line in three of their last four games, and their combined run average for the season is 8.0. Their over/under record for the season is 10-17, and their average over/under line is 8.0. When the over/under line is set at 8.5, they have gone over in six of 11 games. Their games have had an over/under line of 8.5 runs in just 10.7% of their games this season.
Steven Matz Gets The Start For The Cardinals
Steven Matz and the Cardinals are on the road to take on the Tigers. Matz has started 3 games so far this season, and he has a win, a loss, and a no-decision. He has yet to go more than 5 innings in a start, and in his last outing, he gave up 4 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings vs. the Diamondbacks.
Cardinals Offense Breakdown
St. Louis is hoping that their offense can start to pick things up, as they are averaging just 3.6 runs per game, which is 26th in the league. They have been even worse at home, averaging just 3.3 runs per contest. As a team, they are batting just .217 and have the league’s worst home run total.
Willson Contreras and Nolan Gorman are tied for the team lead with four homers apiece, but Gorman is batting just .198 for the season, and Contreras is hitting .288. Brendan Donovan has gone 7/21 over his last five games, but he is batting just .229 for the season. Nolan Arenado is hitting .271 and is 2nd on the team with 13 RBIs.
The Tigers’s offense was hot right out of the gates in their most recent game vs. the Royals, closing out their series with a 4-1 win. After allowing one run to the Royals in the top of the first, the Tigers responded with two runs of their own. Detroit went on to add another two runs in the 2nd inning.
Tarik Skubal put together a good start for the Tigers, going seven innings and giving up just one earned run, and picking up the win. Detroit’s offense was carried by Wenceel Perez, who went 2/4 with a homer and two RBIs.
Detroit will host the Cardinals today with an overall record of 16-12, which has them 3rd in the AL Central. The Tigers are 3.0 games behind the Guardians for the division lead, and they closed out their series vs. the Royals with two straight wins. So far this season, they have been good in the division, putting up a mark of 9-4.
At home, the Tigers are 6-8 this year and have gone 10-4 on the road. Detroit has won three straight games as the underdog, and they are 8-6 both as the favorite and underdog this year. The Tigers have won two straight series and have an overall series record of 5-2-2.
The Tigers are 12-16 vs. the run line this season, but they’ve been much better on the road (9-5) than at home (3-11). They’ve been a good bet as the underdog, going 10-4 vs. the run line, while they’ve been a disaster as the favorite (2-12). Their average run margin for the season is +0.1, but it’s been much better in their wins (+2.6) than in their losses (-3.2).
When the Tigers play at home, the over/under line is set at an average of 8 runs per game. The over/under record for the Tigers is 12-14, and the combined run average for their games is 7.8 runs. When the over/under line is set at 8.5 runs, the Tigers have gone 1-4. This season, only 7.1% of their games have had an over/under line set at 8.5 runs or higher.
Kenta Maeda Gets The Start For The Tigers
Kenta Maeda is getting the start at home for the Tigers against the Cardinals. He has started 3 games this season and has yet to pick up a win. In his last outing, he went 5 innings and struck out 5 without allowing a run. However, he did give up 2 earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings in his first start of the season.
Tigers Offense Breakdown
Mark Canha comes into the game on a seven-game hitting streak, and he has been on fire of late, going 7/19 in his last five games with a home run and four RBIs. For the season, he is batting .272 with a team-high five homers. Riley Greene is also tied for the team lead with five homers, but he is batting just .240 for the season. Greene has also gone deep twice in his last five games, going 5/18 in that stretch.
As a team, the Tigers are just 23rd in scoring at 4 runs per game, and they are also near the bottom of the league in home runs, batting average, and on-base percentage. Overall, they are batting just .223. Detroit’s team OPS of .650 is also 24th in the league.
Cardinals vs Tigers Prediction
Our prediction for today’s Cardinals vs. Tigers matchup is to take the Tigers on the money line at -104. We have the Tigers winning this one by a final score of 5-4. With the money line payout being so close to even, this is a great way to get some value out of this game.
Looking at the starting pitchers, our projections have Steven Matz finishing with around six strikeouts and Kenta Maeda with around six as well. However, we have Maeda going longer in this one and finishing with a better chance of picking up the win.
All odds are courtesy of Action247 Sportsbook. Good luck!!
* All odds are provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.**All views expressed are my own. My picks are my own and are not a guarantee, bet at your own risk.Action247 does not warrant the accuracy of completeness of the information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within these post.
Last updated:April 29, 2024 Cardinals, Tigers