mlb free pick Pittsburgh Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals 9-28-10

If familiarity breeds contempt, there should be animosity aplenty on Tuesday when the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals meet at Busch Stadium.

The Pirates will give the ball to starter Brian Burres in this one. Lefthander Burres is 3-4 this season with a 4.71 ERA.

Starting this game for the Cardinals will be Jeff Suppan. The righthander has a 4.66 ERA to go along with a 2-6 record this season.

Oddsmakers currently have the Cardinals listed as 160-moneyline favorites versus the Pirates, while the game’s total is sitting at 9.

Matt Holliday went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer and three runs batted in to lead the Cardinals past the Pirates 6-4 on Monday night.

St. Louis won as -150 home favorites, while the game played OVER the 9-run total listed by sportsbooks.

Albert Pujols was 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Cardinals, as Dennys Reyes picked up the win for St. Louis in relief of Kyle Lohse.

Pedro Alvarez went 3-for-3 with a big fly and two RBIs for Pittsburgh, while Sean Gallagher was handed the loss for the Pirates after coming into the game following Charlie Morton.

Current streak:
St. Louis has won 2 straight games.

Team records:
Pittsburgh: 55-101 SU
St. Louis: 81-75 SU

Pittsburgh most recently:
When playing on Tuesday are 4-6
Before playing St. Louis are 6-4
After playing St. Louis are 3-7
After a loss are 4-6

St. Louis most recently:
When playing on Tuesday are 7-3
Before playing Pittsburgh are 5-5
After playing Pittsburgh are 4-6
After a win are 4-6

A few trends to consider:
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Pittsburgh’s last 5 games
Pittsburgh is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games
Pittsburgh is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing St. Louis
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Pittsburgh’s last 9 games when playing St. Louis
St. Louis is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Pittsburgh
The total has gone OVER in 5 of St. Louis’s last 6 games
St. Louis is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
St. Louis is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home

Next up:
St. Louis home to Pittsburgh, Wednesday, September 29

Free MLB Pick: Pirates +145