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Carrie Stroup here with your Brewers vs. Cardinals NLCS Wednesday night betting preview.
Sportsbook.com Line & Total: St. Louis -152, Milwaukee +142 & 7 over -115
After a split in Milwaukee, the NLCS shifts to St. Louis for Game 3 as the Cardinals host the Brewers on Wednesday night.
The Brewers lost both their road games, in Arizona, in the NLDS and are 39-44 away from home on the year, by far the worst among this year’s postseason teams and just 17th among all MLB teams. They’ll throw Yovani Gallardo on Wednesday night, and he’s never fared well against the Cards. In 11 career starts against St. Louis, Gallardo is 1-7 with a 5.66 ERA, and the Brewers went 2-9 in those games. Meanwhile, Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter seems to have regained his old form, with four scoreless outings (three shutouts) in his past seven starts.
Carpenter (11-9, 3.45 ERA in the regular season) started the season slow but he’s finishing strong. St. Louis has won six of his past seven starts and among his three shutouts during that span was the decisive NLDS Game 5 win at Philadelphia and September 7 at home against Milwaukee. If you exclude his Game 2 NLDS start that came on three-days rest, he’s 4-0 with a 0.92 ERA over his past six starts that came on regular rest (as Wednesday night’s start will).
Carpenter split his four starts against the Brewers this season, but he won his last two. Along with the shutout in September, he held them to two runs over eight innings (though he allowed 13 base runners) on August 11.
Gallardo (17-10, 3.52 ERA in the regular season) had two strong starts in the NLDS (eight innings of one-run ball in Game 1 and six innings of one-run ball in Game 5) and the Brewers have won his past five starts. But four of those starts, including both NLDS outings, came at home. He is 7-8 with a 4.05 ERA and 1.30 WHIP on the road, and the Brewers were 7-10 in his road starts.
He did win in St. Louis in May, throwing eight shutout, one-hit innings. But the Cards got him for a total of 16 runs (15 earned) over 15.2 innings in August and September starts.
The Cardinals bats are heating up, as they scored 18 runs and had 26 hits (.333 BA) in Games 1 and 2. Albert Pujols has positively hammered Gallardo over the years: 12-for-27 (.444 BA) with four home runs, 11 RBI and five walks. He’s also 12-for-29 (.414 BA) with six doubles and six RBI in the 2011 postseason.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
