Cardinals vs. Marlins
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6/26/12
The St. Louis Cardinals have won seven straight meetings with the Miami Marlins and will try to make it eight in a row when they play the second Game of a three-Game set at Marlins Park on Tuesday. The Cardinals (39-35) rallied back from a 6-1 deficit by scoring all of their runs in the last Four innings for an 8-7 victory in 10.
St. Louis scored one run in both the seventh and eighth innings before tying the Game with Four in the top of the ninth and scoring twice in the 10th to extend the team’s winning streak to Four. All Four of those Games have gone OVER the total.
The Marlins (34-39) have headed in the opposite direction, dropping seven of eight and 16 of 19. OUtside of a 9-0 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday that snapped a six-Game losing streak, they have given up at least six runs six times in their past seven Games with the OVER going 4-2-1.
The Cardinals will try to give starting pitcher Kyle Lohse (6-2, 2.85 ERA) some more run support when he toes the rubber for them. He is just 1-1 in his last Four starts despite allowing more than one earned run only once during that stretch. His teammates have not scored more than two runs in his last three starts, preventing him from earning more wins despite posting an outstanding 1.67 ERA in those Games with the UNDER cashing each time.
Lohse is 4-1 on the road this year with a 2.83 ERA in nine starts and walked away with a no-decision last time out against the Detroit Tigers, allowing one run and Four hits in seven innings of an eventual 2-1 loss last Thursday. He also pitched well in a meeting with the Marlins earlier this year back on April 4, giving up just one run and two hits in 7.1 innings with no walks and three strikeouts in a 4-1 victory.
Miami will counter with Carlos Zambrano (4-5, 4.01), who is winless in his last three starts, going 0-2 with an iNFLated 13.50 ERA. He failed to pitch three full innings in two of those outings and walked 13 batters in 9.1 innings overall to go along with seven strikeouts.
Zambrano has also struggled at home with a 1-3 mark and 6.12 ERA in six starts. However, if “Big Z” is motivated, he could be the difference in this Game. He pitched fairly well against the Cardinals as a member of the Chicago Cubs, going 12-6 with a 3.40 ERA in 28 career starts.