St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates 5/20/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

NL Central Division rivals will square off on Friday night, when the St. Louis Cardinals visit the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cardinals (20-18) have split their first 20 road games and trail first place Milwaukee by four full games. On Thursday, St. Louis 1B Paul Goldschmidt homered and drove in four runs during a 7-6 road loss against New York in ten innings.

Forty year old right-hander Adam Wainwright (4-3 3.15 ERA) continues to turn back the clock for the Cardinals. Wainwright has won consecutive starts and has allowed just two runs over his last 13 innings of work.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a game below .500 at home and are currently sitting in third place. On Wednesday, OF Jack Suwinkski delivered a solo shot to Pittsburgh ahead for good during a 3-2 road victory against Chicago. 1B Michael Chavis collected three hits and drove in a run for the Pirates (16-21).

The Pirates will give the nod to twenty-eight year old righty Zach Thompson (2-3 5.47 ERA) in the series opener. In his last start, Thompson allowed one-hit across six shutout frames during a 3-1 home victory versus Cincinnati.