Cardinals at Pirates 9/17/20 - MLB Picks & Predictions

On Thursday, the St Louis Cardinals open a five-game series on the road against National League Central rival the Pittsburgh Pirates. St Louis dropped to 21-22 following its 18-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday. The Cardinals are in second place in the NL Central five games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs. However, St Louis has lost three of its last four and five of its last seven.

First baseman Paul Goldschmidt is batting .314 to lead St Louis and has team highs in home runs with six, hits with 44 and on-base percentage .443. Third baseman Brad Miller has a team-high 23 RBIs. On Thursday, St Louis will send Dakota Hudson to the mound. The right-hander is 3-2 with an ERA of 2.92, 31 KS and 13 BBs.

Pittsburgh continues to lose as the Pirates dropped to 14-33 following a 4-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. Pittsburgh is in last place in the NL Central 14 games behind the front running Chicago Cubs. The Pirates have lost each of their last seven. Over that span of seven losses, Pittsburgh has been outscored 46-14 and the Pirates have scored the fewest runs in baseball with just 173.

Third baseman Colin Moran is batting .261 to lead Pittsburgh and has team-highs in home runs with eight and on-base percentage at .344. Second baseman Erik Gonzalez is leading Pittsburgh in RBIs with 19, while first baseman Josh Bell has a team-high 39 hits. On Thursday, Pittsburgh will send Steven Brault to the mound. The left-hander is 0-3 with an ERA of 5.06, 24 Ks and 17 BBs.