On Tuesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers will play the third game of their five-game series. In this strange year for Major League Baseball, with the Cardinals having multiple games suspended due to COVID-19, the Cardinals and Brewers faced off for the first time this season on Monday.
They played a doubleheader on Monday, splitting the two games. The Cardinals are four games back in the NL Central at 21-21, while Milwaukee is six games back at 21-25.
Cardinals Catching Up
The Cardinals have been busy the past couple of weeks, trying to catch up on all of their suspended games. They have been no strangers to playing doubleheaders.
St. Louis continues to chase the Chicago Cubs for the top spot in the NL Central.
Paul Goldschmidt has been leading the way offensively for the Cardinals. He holds a .312 batting average and has hit six home runs.
One of the only categories not led by Goldschmidt for the Cardinals is RBI. First baseman Brad Miller leads the team with 23 RBI and has also blasted six home runs thus far.
He also has great history against the Brewers. He had three hits on Monday and is 8-for-15 with two home runs against Tuesday’s opposing pitcher, Brett Anderson.
Jack Flaherty will be making the start in this one. He is 3-1 and has a 3.08 ERA. He has had a good year but has struggled on the road.
In his other two starts on the road, he is 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA. He will have to change that narrative for the Cardinals to hang in this one.
Brewers Try to Bounce Back
The Brewers continue to fall in the NL Central standings after dropping six of their last nine games. Their offense has struggled to put up runs in those games.
Milwaukee’s leading hitter, Avisail Garcia, is only hitting .254. This is a fairly low average to lead a team. Keston Hiura has hit 11 home runs this year but is only holding an average of .221.
In the first game on Monday, Ryan Braun hit a game-tying double in the eighth inning that helped lead them to a win. However, he is struggling this season, batting just .220.
But he could have another great game facing Flaherty. He is 7-for-16 with three home runs against the Cardinals’ right-hander.
Anderson was scratched from his previous start but seems to be healthy enough to pitch in this one for the Brewers. He is 2-3 with a 4.64 ERA in 2020.
Christian Yelich hasn’t had a year to remember so far. Many people thought he would eventually bounce back, but he is still hitting below .200.
Prediction
The Brewers have problems in the batter’s box. They can’t seem to get their star hitters in a groove.
Some of them have had success against Flaherty, but the same could be said for Cardinals hitters against Anderson. The Cardinals are the favorites at -144.
Expect more scoring than the first two games, but I’m taking the Cardinals to beat the Brewers on Tuesday.