In a matchup of two young pitchers, Collin McHugh pitched well in his first start for the Mets and Joe Kelly has done his best pitching at home. Add in two offenses struggling to score lately and go ‘under’ in St. Louis Monday.
Two promising young pitchers and two teams having a hard time scoring should result in a low scoring game on Labor Day Monday afternoon when Collin McHugh and the New York Mets (64-70 overall, 34-35 away) take on Joe Kelly and the St. Louis Cardinals (72-62 overall, 40-26 home) in the firstl game of a three-game series from Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MO at 2:15 ET.
The posted total at Bookmaker Sportsbook is 8½ for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -110.
The Cardinals are still fighting for their playoff lives as they are currently clinging to the second and last wild card spot in the National League by one-half game over the Los Angeles Dodgers and by 1½ games over the Pittsburgh Pirates. While St. Louis still leads the National League with a .274 batting average, that offense has deserted the Cardinals at the worst possible time.
The Cards have been unable to open up a cushion in the wild card race because they have lost five of their last six games, and the reason for the slump is that opposing starting pitchers have held St. Louis scoreless in all five of those losses! Moreover, thescoring drought began in the last two games of a critical series vs. the Pirates last week.
Yes the Cardinals did score a total of four runs in the five losses, but all of those runs came off of bullpens including scoring three runs vs. the Washington Nationals yesterday after Stephen Strasburg had shut them out over six innings. That could make life a bit easier for the Mets’ rookie McHugh.
McHugh was brilliant in his Major League debut vs. the Colorado Rockies after being recalled from AAA Buffalo last week, as he tossed seven scoreless innings and allowed only two hits with nine strikeouts against just one walk.
McHugh blossomed at the AA level last year when he posted a 2.89 ERA with 100 strikeouts in 93 innings against 32 walks at Binghamton. He began this season at Binghamton also and posted 2.41 ERA with a sparkling 65/17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 75 innings, necessitating his promotion to Buffalo where he had a 3.39 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 27 walks in 69 frames.
His first start after the big leap to the majors speaks for itself and he now has a chance to shine again vs. a struggling Cardinals’ offense.
Kelly is making his first start since August 19, but he has had a couple of prolonged outings in long relief so rust will not be a factor. Kelly has proven to be quite serviceable in his first full season as a Major League starter, as he has eight Quality Starts in his last nine starts and he owns a nice 3.61 ERA despite his 4-6 record. That ERA drops to 3.06 when Kelly has pitched here at home.
He also gets to take advantage of a struggling offense as the Mets are averaging just 3.32 runs per nine innings in their last 10 games overall and they are batting a weak .215 vs. right-handed pitchers during this span.
Thus, look for both rookies to shine and go for the hidden value on the ‘under’ on Monday.
The posted total at Bookmaker Sportsbook is 8½ for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -110.
The Cardinals are still fighting for their playoff lives as they are currently clinging to the second and last wild card spot in the National League by one-half game over the Los Angeles Dodgers and by 1½ games over the Pittsburgh Pirates. While St. Louis still leads the National League with a .274 batting average, that offense has deserted the Cardinals at the worst possible time.The Cards have been unable to open up a cushion in the wild card race because they have lost five of their last six games, and the reason for the slump is that opposing starting pitchers have held St. Louis scoreless in all five of those losses! Moreover, thescoring drought began in the last two games of a critical series vs. the Pirates last week.
Yes the Cardinals did score a total of four runs in the five losses, but all of those runs came off of bullpens including scoring three runs vs. the Washington Nationals yesterday after Stephen Strasburg had shut them out over six innings. That could make life a bit easier for the Mets’ rookie McHugh.
McHugh was brilliant in his Major League debut vs. the Colorado Rockies after being recalled from AAA Buffalo last week, as he tossed seven scoreless innings and allowed only two hits with nine strikeouts against just one walk.
McHugh blossomed at the AA level last year when he posted a 2.89 ERA with 100 strikeouts in 93 innings against 32 walks at Binghamton. He began this season at Binghamton also and posted 2.41 ERA with a sparkling 65/17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 75 innings, necessitating his promotion to Buffalo where he had a 3.39 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 27 walks in 69 frames.
His first start after the big leap to the majors speaks for itself and he now has a chance to shine again vs. a struggling Cardinals’ offense.
Kelly is making his first start since August 19, but he has had a couple of prolonged outings in long relief so rust will not be a factor. Kelly has proven to be quite serviceable in his first full season as a Major League starter, as he has eight Quality Starts in his last nine starts and he owns a nice 3.61 ERA despite his 4-6 record. That ERA drops to 3.06 when Kelly has pitched here at home.
He also gets to take advantage of a struggling offense as the Mets are averaging just 3.32 runs per nine innings in their last 10 games overall and they are batting a weak .215 vs. right-handed pitchers during this span.
Thus, look for both rookies to shine and go for the hidden value on the ‘under’ on Monday.
MLB Pick: Mets, Cardinals ‘under’ 8½ (-110) ---
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