St. Louis Cardinals (8-11) vs. Seattle Mariners (8-11)
April 21, 2023 10:10 pm EDT
The Line: Seattle Mariners -111 / St. Louis Cardinals -116; Over/Under: +7.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The St. Louis Cardinals and the Seattle Mariners meet Friday in MLB action from T-Mobile Park. St. Louis is fresh off a series versus the Diamondbacks. The Cardinals lost two of those three games. As for Seattle, they played the Brewers in their last set. The Mariners fell in a sweep during that series. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis took a 6-3 loss to the Diamondbacks in the Monday opener, then fell 8-7 on Tuesday. In game three, the Cardinals were able to avert the sweep with a 14-5 victory. Starting pitcher Jake Woodford gave up four earned on seven hits and a walk over 5.0 innings.
For the starter job in the Friday game one, it’ll be St. Louis’ Steven Matz. In his three starts so far Matz is 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA and 17 Ks in 16.2 innings. Matz is 50-53 with a 4.35 ERA in 159 career games (149 starts).
Seattle Mariners
Over on the Seattle side, they had no luck versus the Brewers this week. The Mariners lost 7-3, 6-5 and 5-3 in those matchups. In the Wednesday game, Seattle’s Marco Gonzales gave up two earned on four hits and one walk in 6.0 frames during the start.
It’ll be George Kirby starting Friday’s game for the Mariners. This year Kirby is 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA and 12 Ks in 16.2 innings. He’s 9-6 in 28 career starts with a 3.44 ERA in total.
The Cardinals are 9-4 in their last 13 Friday games and 35-17 in their last 52 versus a team with a losing record. St. Louis is 2-6 in their last eight interleague road games.
Meanwhile, the Mariners are 4-1 in their last five Friday games and 5-12 in their last 17 in game one of a series. Seattle is 1-4 in their last five after a loss.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll take a stab on the Mariners here. Kirby started out a little sketchy in his first start this year, but over his last pair he’s been much better. Kirby has 12.1 innings in those two starts with three earned on 11 hits and no walks. As for Matz, he gave up 10 earned over his first 11.0 innings of work this year. That said, Matz did pretty well against Pittsburgh in his last start (5.2 innings; two earned; five walks; three hits). This should be a pretty entertaining series, and I think the Mariners have a good shot at a win in the opener.
