Cardinals vs. Rockies Prediction and Odds for Tuesday, August 9 (Mikolas' Road Struggles Continue)

Winners of seven straight, the surging St. Louis Cardinals sit two games ahead of the Brewers in the NL Central as they open a three-game series in Colorado with the Rockies.

Miles Mikolas has a quality start in five of his last six outings, but he's looked a bit shaky of late, with a 5.47 ERA in his last three. The Cardinals are 1-5 in Mikolas' previous six road starts, so he hopes to rebound against a downtrodden Rockies club tonight.

Colorado turns to Ryan Feltner, behind whom its lost five straight. He's been better at home though, and even threw 3.1 scoreless innings against the vaunted Dodgers at Coors Field two weeks ago.

Nonetheless, Colorado's poor bullpen will factor heavily into this game, as Feltner typically won't pitch deep into games.

Can Feltner pick up his second major league win or will Mikolas get back on track to keep St. Louis rolling?

Here are the odds from WynnBET Sportsbook to help us analyze this

Cardinals vs Rockies Odds, Run Line and Total

Run Line:

• Cardinals: -1.5 (-110)
• Rockies: +1.5 (-110)

Moneyline:

• Cardinals: -165
• Rockies: +152

Total:

• 11.0 (Over -115/Under -105)

Cardinals vs Rockies Prediction and Pick

Watching Miles Mikolas pitch feels like watching my gas gauge in my car drop below "E." Sure, I can drive a while longer and probably get to my destination, but this dicey preposition could leave me stranded if I keep ignoring the fact that my car is out of gas.

Mikolas feels out of gas. He's crafty and still getting outs, but his underlying metrics show he's hanging on for dear life, taking advantage of hills to avoid using the gas his arm has left.

In his last five road starts, Mikolas has a FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) above 5.31 four times. For reference, Marco Gonzales has the worst FIP of all qualified starters at 5.11. So Mikolas is pitching worse than MLB's worst starter.

At some point, St. Louis needs to stop at a gas station. Colorado is hitting well recently too, ranking eighth in OPS against right-handed pitchers over the last three weeks.

I have limited faith in Feltner, but if you can stop the Dodgers then you can stop the Cardinals, and the warning signs around Mikolas are too glaring to ignore.

The Rockies are 10-5 in their last 15 as home underdogs while the Cardinals are 3-4 in their last seven as road favorites. Trust Colorado's lineup to take advantage of Mikolas' struggles. That car is starting to slow down and smell funny - we better be ready to capitalize.

Pick: Rockies ML (+152)

Follow all of Joe Summers' betting picks here.