The Pittsburgh Pirates (71-81) take on the St. Louis Cardinals (77-75) Thursday in the finale of a 4-game set at Busch Stadium at 7:15 p.m. ET. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s'MLB odds around the Pirates vs. Cardinals odds and make our expert MLB picks and predictions for the best bets.
Season series: Cardinals lead 8-4
The Pirates dropped a wild one Wednesday 10-5 as +183 underdogs. They fell behind 4-0 after 3 innings and battled back to grab a 5-4 lead in the top of the 6th before folding in the 7th when the Cardinals scored 6 times. Six Pirates had 2 hits apiece, and rookie CF Billy Cook hit his 1st major league homer.
SS Masyn Winn’s game-tying homer to lead off the bottom of the 7th started the Cardinals’ big inning, while RF Jordan Walker capped the scoring with a bases-clearing 3-run double 7 batters later. Winn, who has 14 homers, quietly is having one of the best seasons as a Cardinals shortstop over the last 20 years. Even though the Cards — who cashed as -201 favorites Wednesday — have won 3 in a row, they’re still 7 games out of a Wild Card spot and running out of runway with 10 games to go.