Thursday's forecasted temperature is 85 degrees with a few clouds in St. Louis. The Rays and Cardinals are facing off in an interleague matchup, with the game getting started at 7:15 PM ET from Busch Stadium. St. Louis is favored on the money line, with the odds sitting at -127 compared to the Rays at +108. The over/under line is currently at 8 runs.
Tampa Bay will be looking to end a two-game losing streak, as they are 57-56 and 4th in the AL East. St. Louis is 2nd in the NL Central with a record of 59-56 and will be sending Kyle Gibson to the mound vs. Shane Baz for the Rays. BSSUN will be televising this one.
Tampa Bay vs. St. Louis Matchup At A Glance
- Teams: Rays at Cardinals
- Where: Busch Stadium St. Louis
- Date: Thursday, August 8th
- Betting Odds STL -127 | TB +108 O/U 8
Rays vs Cardinals Last Game Recap
St. Louis picked up a 5-2 win over the Rays in the most recent game of this series. The Cardinals had a 1-0 lead after the first inning and added two more runs in the 3rd. As for the Rays, they got on the board with one run in the 6th and added their final run in the 7th.
Erick Fedde started for the Cardinals and picked up the win, going five innings and giving up just one run. He finished the game with six strikeouts but issued two walks. As for the Rays, Taj Bradley got the start and took the loss, giving up five earned runs in just 4 2/3 innings of work.
Alec Burleson, Nolan Arenado, Masyn Winn, and Willson Contreras each had two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals' offense. Josh Lowe did the most damage for the Rays, going 2/3 with an RBI.
Rays Preview
On the run line, the Rays have been a solid bet with a 57-56 record, including a 33-21 mark on the road. As underdogs, they've covered the run line in 35 of 56 games, but as favorites, they are 22-35. This season, Tampa Bay's games have averaged 8.3 runs, resulting in a 52-56 O/U record.
Currently, the Rays are in 4th place in the AL East, 10 games behind the Orioles. They have an overall series record of 20-12-4 and have won two straight series on the road. Heading into today's game, they are looking to snap a two-game losing streak.
Shane Baz will be making his fourth start of the season for the Rays, and he has yet to pick up a win in his first three outings. His last start came against the Astros, where he went 5 1/3 innings and struck out 5, but gave up 2 earned runs. Baz has not gone more than 6 innings in a start this season.
Yandy Diaz has been a consistent performer for the Rays this season, batting .274 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs. He has also gone 11/38 in his last 10 games. Christopher Morel is the team's leader in RBIs (53), but he is batting just .193 for the season and has only two hits in his last 21 at-bats.
Overall, the Rays offense is averaging just 3.9 runs per game, which is 27th in the league. They are also near the bottom of the league in home runs and team slugging percentage. However, they do come into the game with a team batting average of .234, which is 18th in the league.
Cardinals Preview
St. Louis has an over/under record of 8-11-1 when the total line is set at 8 runs. Their games have had an average of 8.7 runs per game, resulting in a 55-57 over/under record for the season. The Cardinals are 31-26 straight up at home and 28-30 on the road, with an overall record of 59-56.
As underdogs on the run line, the Cardinals have a 37-19 record, while their overall run line record is 57-58. St. Louis is currently six games behind the Brewers in the NL Central, with a 17-19 record in divisional games. They have covered the run line in their last game as favorites, but they are on a two-game series losing streak and have a 5-5 record in their last 10 games.
Kyle Gibson gets the start for the Cardinals today and will be looking to rebound from his last outing, where he gave up four earned runs in seven innings of work. In that outing, he gave up one homer. Against the Rays today, Gibson will look to pitch more like he did on July 20th, where he went 6 2/3 innings, giving up just one earned run and two homers. Gibson's ERA for the season is 4.04, along with a record of 7-4. Looking at his WHIP, it currently stands at 1.31. So far, he has made nine quality starts.
St. Louis comes into the game with the 23rd ranked scoring offense in the league, averaging 4.1 runs per game. They have been slightly better at home, averaging 4.3 runs per game. As a team, the Cardinals are batting .245, which is 9th in the league, and they have been average in terms of striking out and drawing walks.
Masyn Winn has been hot of late for the Cardinals, going 10/33 in his last eight games, with two homers and four RBIs. Overall, he is batting .282 with nine homers. Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman are the team's top power threats, with 19 homers apiece. Burleson's 66 RBIs are the best on the team, and Gorman is 3rd with 50 RBIs.
Rays vs. Cardinals Prediction: Cardinals ML -127
Our prediction for today's Rays vs. Cardinals matchup is for the Cardinals to pick up a 5-4 win. With the money line sitting at -127, this is the way we recommend playing this one, as there is a decent payout for a Cardinals win.
Looking at the starting pitchers, we have Kyle Gibson finishing with six strikeouts, which is good for sixth among starters. As for Shane Baz, we have him finishing with five K's, which is ninth among starters.
