MLB: Previewing Reds-Cardinals Game 2

Game 2: Wednesday, April 18th 8:15 PM ET.

Pitching Match-up: Matt Latos (0-1, 5.59 ERA) vs Jaime Garcia (1-0 4.22 ERA)

Last Night's Review

Last night, the Cardinals took the first of three against the Reds thanks to Matt Carpenter's walk-off sac fly in the 10th.

The Cardinals also won last night's game thanks to Kyle Lohse, who had another great outing. He threw seven innings, allowing just four hits while striking out six. Lohse, for now, has filled the void of Chris Carpenter after three solid outings to start his season.

Johnny Cueto, who also was a factor in last night's game, also threw well, going seven innings and only gave up one run while striking out five. His team couldn't pick up the slack, producing only one run in those 10 innings of play.

Look for tonight's game to focus more on the offense of the Cardinals as they are facing Matt Latos, who is coming off of two shaky starts to begin the season.

Tonight's Preview

With Jaime Garcia taking the mound, the Cardinals look to be in good shape for tomorrow.

Garcia is coming off a rough start in his last outing against these same Reds. I expect him to bounce back after that last outing because he's coming off of seven days rest and has had plenty of time to prepare for this matchup.

The Reds are going to start Matt Latos, which is good news for Cardinals fans because Latos has not done well over the years against St. Louis.

In his 13.1 innings pitched against the Cardinals, the team has batted .390, scoring 16 runs over those innings. That's the second highest batting average against Latos in the majors.

The Cardinals will need to take advantage of him early and try to add to that stat if they want to win.

Tonight's X-Factor: Carlos Beltran

I'm not sure how you can pick another X-factor in this game tonight when Beltran has two at bats against Latos and both were home runs.

I'm going to predict Beltran finishes 2-5 with two RBI and a double.

My Prediction

Cards will pull away early and go on to win 7-2.