Pirates vs. Cardinals Prediction and Odds for Monday, June 13 (Mitch Keller Revival Is Real)
By Josh Yourish
The Pittsburgh Pirates will take on the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday in a battle between two NL Central sqauds.
Both teams come into this one off of a loss, but that’s really where the similarities stop. Pittsburgh (24-34) has lost six straight and is in danger of finding its way back to the basement in the NL Central. St. Louis (34-27) bounced back from a sweep at the hands of Tampa Bay to win its series with Cincinnati and has overtaken the Milwaukee Brewers atop the division.
To prepare for the doubleheader tomorrow, St. Louis is giving Zack Thompson, the team's 2019 first-round pick, his first career start. He debuted in the bigs on Friday with four innings out of the bullpen.
Pittsburgh has Mitch Keller on the mound, who is desperate to turn his season and career around and is coming off his best two starts of the season.
Odds are available in the WynnBET Sportsbook
Pirates vs. Cardinals Odds, Run Line and Total
Run Line
- Pirates +1.5 (-130)
- Cardinals -1.5 (+110)
Moneyline
- Pirates +165
- Cardinals -180
Total
- 9.5 (Over +105 / Under -125)
Pirates vs. Cardinals Prediction and Pick
Keller is the latest in a long lineage of Pirates highly rated pitching prospects who failed to reach their potential. The struggles of Tyler Glasnow were linked to Ray Serage, the Pirates former pitching coach, and his pitch to contact philosophy that had Glasnow and others utilizing a sinker or two-seam fastball.
Once out of Pittsburgh, Glasnow, Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Joe Musgrove and even Charlie Morton all reached new heights by ditching the pitch in favor of elevated four-seamers and have all been Cy Young candidates at some points in their career.
Ironically, Keller has now ditched his four-seam fastball in favor of a sinker and had two solid starts with that pitch.
Talking with Dewey Robinson last week, I asked him about Mitch Keller’s new sinker:
— Mike Persak (@MikeDPersak) June 7, 2022
“His four-seamer, the characteristics are, let’s say, spotty, so he can never count on it”
More on the new pitch and why it made all the sense in the world to try:https://t.co/2HyW7DLSh0
I’m all in on the Keller revival and think Vegas is late to the party. Pittsburgh needs a win and with Keller on the mound and facing a rookie making his first start, it looks like a good chance to get one.
Also, we need this in Pittsburgh, it speeds up the timeline for this team to compete considerable if Keller can become the pitcher we all expected when he came up a few years ago. I hope the Pirates finally got one right.
Pick: Pirates +165
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