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Giants vs Cardinals Prediction and Odds for May 14 (Giants With Huge Advantage Against Dakota Hudson)

By Joe Summers

Jakob Junis is enjoying a career resurgence with the Giants as they take on the Cardinals today
Jakob Junis is enjoying a career resurgence with the Giants as they take on the Cardinals today / Thearon W. Henderson/GettyImages
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The St. Louis Cardinals host the San Francisco Giants in the second contest of a three-game series today at 2:15 PM EST.

St. Louis has struggled of late and will send Dakota Hudson to the mound in hopes of building some momentum. Hudson sports a 3.56 ERA and has thrown a quality start in three of his six outings, but he gave up three earned runs in only four innings against these Giants in his last start and has concerning underlying metrics.

Jakob Junis will get the call for San Francisco and the former Royal has been marvelous since joining the club in the offseason. Through three starts, Junis has allowed only two earned runs, albeit against the Cardinals. He has a 1.20 ERA across 15 innings and appears to have locked down a rotation spot moving forward.

Will Junis stay hot or will St. Louis notch a home victory? Let's check out the odds from WynnBET Sportsbook to help us find out ahead of this Giants vs Cardinals matchup:

Giants vs Cardinals Odds, Run Line and Total

Run Line:

  • Giants: +1.5 (-210)
  • Cardinals: -1.5 (+175)

Moneyline:

  • Giants: +106
  • Cardinals: -116

Total:

  • Total 8 (Over +100/Under -120)

Giants vs Cardinals Prediction and Pick

The visiting Giants have the upper hand here and should pick up the victory. Junis long showed promise, but Kansas City's staff wasn't ever able to properly harness his ability. As is the case with many players once they leave the Royals, it appears Junis may have figured it out.

He ranks in the 82nd percentile in chase rate and 79th percentile in walk rate, so he's generating swings-and-misses while limiting walks. On top of that, Junis in the 72nd percentile in expected batting average and has a 2.79 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching). This hot start is no fluke, and the Giants may have found something in the former 29th-round pick.

Dakota Hudson, on the other hand, has some extremely discouraging underlying metrics. His 5.33 FIP suggests he's been quite lucky to amass a 3.56 ERA thus far, and his pitching profile from Baseball Savant paints a similar picture:

Yeesh, that's bad. Usually there's at least one category I can point to and say "hey there's something!" But not with Hudson. He's been bad at literally everything. San Francisco ranks ninth in MLB in OPS and should have no problem tagging the former first round pick for some runs. Just last week, Hudson lasted only 4.1 innings against these Giants as he surrendered five hits, four walks, and three earned runs.

Give me San Francisco to roll here. They win on the run line.

Pick: Giants -1.5

Follow all of Joe Summers' betting picks here.

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