Can’t see the Cardinals losing to the Pirates in the first game of today’s doubleheader. The Redbirds are already 6-1 vs. the Bucs in 2022 and won yesterday’s opener by a score of 7-5. The home team actually needed to rally from a five-run deficit, but the chances of Pittsburgh taking an early 5-0 lead for a second straight day would seem low.

The Pirates might be the third place team in the NL Central, but they are actually quite bad. They have a -93 run differential, which is the worst in baseball. There’s a huge gap between the top two and bottom three in the Central Division. St. Louis leads the way with a 35-27 record.

As a home favorite of -125 to -175, the Cards are 9-3 this year. So I’m not worried about laying the juice. Pittsburgh has lost seven straight games and was the underdog in six of them.

Brubaker isn’t a good starter. The Pirates’ righty is 0-6 in his 12 trips to the mound. His last win came on August 24th of last year. He is 0-5 with a 6.75 ERA lifetime vs. St. Louis.

Liberatore starts this first game for the Cardinals. He’s made just one start at home thus far, but didn’t give up any runs. In fact, he allowed only two hits over five innings. Play ST. LOUIS in Game 1.