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The St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves square off on Monday with first pitch set for 7:20 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Dakota Hudson (6-4, 3.83 ERA) will pitch for the Cardinals with Kyle Wright (9-4, 3.03 ERA) throwing for the Braves.
St. Louis (44-37) lost three of its last four games heading into Monday and lost the series against the Philadelphia Phillies after getting shut out yesterday. Hudson made 15 starts this season and has been solid throughout his MLB career with the Cardinals, coming off an outing where he allowed 3 runs over 5 innings in a victory over the Miami Marlins. St. Louis has the sixth-best batting average (.253), and Paul Goldschmidt has the second-most RBIs with 65 this season.
Atlanta (46-34) fell short of a sweep in a walk-off loss to the Cincinnati Reds yesterday and will enter this series firmly in second place in the National League East. Wright made 15 starts this season and is coming off a fantastic start where he gave up 1 run over 7 innings in a win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves rank No. 3 in OPS (.755), and Ronald Acuna Jr. returned to the lineup over the weekend, recording multiple hits in two of three games against the Reds.
Cardinals vs. Braves
Pitchers: Dakota Hudson vs. Kyle Wright
First pitch: 7:20 p.m. ET
Cardinals local broadcast: Bally Sports Midwest
Braves local broadcast: Bally Sports South
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Braves -1.5 (+110)
Run total: 9.5
Moneyline odds: Braves -170, Cardinals +145
Moneyline pick: Cardinals +145
It feels like this matchup should go either way, but oddsmakers have St. Louis as fairly significant underdogs to come away with a victory in this spot. The pitchers have similar ERA numbers, and both teams are above average in most of the major offensive statistics. There is not enough here that should make the Braves this big of favorites.
Player prop pick: Dakota Hudson Over 3.5 strikeouts (+105)
The Cardinals starter is certainly not a strikeout pitcher with a 5.0 K/9 heading into this matchup and threw more than 3.5 strikeouts just five times this season. However, Hudson will face a Braves lineup that strikes out 9.4 times per game, which is the second-most in baseball.
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