The St. Louis Cardinals will always have a special place in the hearts of Boston Red Sox fans. The Sox ended the Curse of the Bambino with their World Series sweep back in 2004, their first title since 1918. The teams hook up in Fenway Park for a three-game weekend set, their first meeting since the 2017 campaign.
Winners in 11 of 13 games following a 10-1 rout of Oakland on Wednesday, the Red Sox have climbed into playoff contention holding down the third wild card in the AL. The re imagined playoffs will allow for a lot of movement before starting and we’ve already seen the Sox take a huge leap. Boston’s Kutter Crawford is scheduled to make his third career start facing Dakota Hudson on Saturday in the middle game of the set on FOX.
Cardinals vs Boston Red Sox Date & Time
The interleague showdown between the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox takes place on Saturday, June 18, 2022 at 7:10 p.m. ET from Fenway Park. Angel Stadium. The game will air live on FOX with betting options for every game on the 2022 MLB schedule available at BookMaker.eu.
Cardinals vs Boston Red Sox Odds
St. Louis Cardinals (Check Back Later)
Boston Red Sox (Check Back Later)
Total (Check Back Later)
Season So Far
With Milwaukee slumping, the Cards emerged as the leader in the NL Central despite going 5-5 in their last 10 games. Typically a club with strong pitching it’s the offense that’s carried them to a 37-28 record and a slight lead over the Brewers. With the new playoff format allowing three wild card teams the possibilities are endless. However, the National League is stacked at the top leaving the division winner as the only likely postseason hopeful. It’s probably too early to talk playoffs, but the division will be a two-team race to the end.
Following a three-game sweep by Tampa Bay where the Cards scored just six runs, they beat up on teams at the bottom of the NL Central winning five of seven against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh averaging 5.14 runs while cashing the OVER five times. For the season the Cards average nearly 4.8 runs going 33-29 against the OVER. Paul Goldschmidt terrorized Pittsburgh pitching hitting .625 with four homers and eight RBIs in the four-game series. He jumped into the early season MVP discussion with his .347 average, 16 home runs, 56 RBIs and 1.072 OPS.
It’s too bad the Sox don’t play in the AL West. Logistically it would be a problem, but they’ve owned teams during a jaunt through the division. They played a 12th straight game against AL West foes on Wednesday beating Oakland 10-1 for their 10th victory in that span where they’ve outscored the A’s, Angels and Mariners 58-26.
Not only has the offense been good they’ve gotten strong pitching with four shutouts allowing them to climb into a playoff spot. Boston raised its record to 34-29 during the run and still finds itself fourth in the AL East 12.5 games behind the Yankees. The Sox are 24-10 since May 8.
Probable Pitchers
It’s been a long road back for Dakota Hudson (4-3, 3.29 ERA), who looks to regain the form that boosted him to 16 wins during the 2019 campaign. An arm injury and subsequent Tommy John surgery derailed the promising career. But he’s been consistent not missing a start this year and he looks to rebound from his worst outing. He allowed six runs on nine hits over 7.0 innings in a loss to Cincinnati last time out raising his ERA from 2.76 to 3.29.
Over his previous three starts he was brilliant in 18.2 innings allowing just 11 hits with 12 strikeouts for a 0.96 ERA. One thing that still plagues him is control. He led the majors in walks in 2019 and his BB/9 this year is nearly 4.0 leading to a WHIP of 1.25. One thing you don’t want to do against a hot offense is give them additional base runners.
Making a spot start on the recent road trip, Kutter Crawford (1-1, 5.74 ERA) earned himself another opportunity by tossing five innings of one-hit ball in a 2-0 win over Seattle. And with a name like that you know what his best pitch is. “Even when I was behind in the count I was able to throw the cutter and get weak contact or get back in the count,” he said.
His previous nine appearances all came in relief and Crawford was sent to the minors after posting an 8.44 ERA allowing 15 hits and eight walks over 10.2 frames. On the bright side he’s given up just two hits and no runs over 7.0 innings of his last two appearances. Both pitchers are facing their opponent for the first time.
Cardinals vs Boston Red Sox Predictions
Both teams are swinging wicked sticks and with starters not quite dialed in there could be plenty of offense. Boston had a nice run taking advantage of a weak spot in its schedule. The A’s aren’t good and Seattle and LA hit rough spots. But the Sox did what they had to, though facing stiffer competition comes at a price. Hudson has been good and the Cards pen is solid giving them an edge in this matchup.
Prediction: St. Louis Cardinals and OVER
