I don't need much of an excuse to fade the Pirates especially when they are on the road. Jack Flaherty gives me a strong reason to not only go against Pittsburgh, but lay 1 1/2 runs on the run line against them in order to scale back the heavy juice. 

The Pirates are last in the majors in homers and second-to-last in runs. They are facing perhaps the best and hottest pitcher in the National League. Flaherty is 7-0 with a 2.47 ERA. He's on a string of 13 scoreless innings. Flaherty has a strong history against the Pirates, too, with a 7-1 record and 2.14 ERA in 10 career starts.

Pittsburgh has lost 42 of its past 58 road games. Each of the Pirates' last five losses have come by more than one run.

Pittsburgh has one decent starting pitcher, JT Brubaker. And he pitched yesterday in a 5-2 loss to St. Louis.

So now it's Trevor Cahill's turn to pitch. Good news for the Cardinals. Cahill is 1-4 with a 5.97 ERA. He has a career 4.53 ERA versus the Cardinals in 15 appearances, including seven starts.