Thursday MLB: L.A. Dodgers (62-39) at St. Louis Cardinals (56-48)
The Los Angeles Dodgers simply can’t wait to leave St. Louis. All the Cards did was tie Wednesday’s game in the ninth inning on a two-out, two-strike hit by Colby Rasmus, who had been in a 2-for-30 slump. Then Albert Pujols won it in the 15th inning, his 11th career walk-off hit.
Pujols was 3-for-7 with a double on Wednesday but has no home runs and just three RBIs in the past 11 games, hitting just .245 during that span. It’s the longest home run drought of the season for the two-time MVP.
Still, St. Louis goes for a four-game sweep of the team with the best record in the NL tonight. The Dodgers have lost four in a row and 19 of their last 24 against the Cardinals. St. Louis is 11-2 against the Dodgers at the new Busch Stadium, and 17-3 at home against Los Angeles since 2004.
L.A.’s four-game skid is the Dodgers’ worst since they dropped eight straight from Aug. 22-29, 2008, and they have totaled three runs and 33 hits the first three games of this four-game series.
And oddsmakers at WagerWeb.com list St. Louis as a -110 money line favorite to complete the sweep tonight. The Dodgers haven’t been swept in a four-game series in St. Louis since 1987.
The Dodgers start Hiroki Kuroda (3-5, 4.57), his first appearance ever against St. Louis. Kuroda is on a four-start winless streak but did at least have a quality start last time out against Florida. In his previous seven starts before that, Kuroda’s ERA was 5.84.
The Cardinals counter with Kyle Lohse (4-6, 4.35). He will be making his fourth start since returning from a strained forearm that sidelined him for more than a month. Lohse is 0-2 with a 5.62 ERA in his last three starts. He does have a 3.20 ERA at home this year and was 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA in two starts vs. the Dodgers a year ago.
Baseball Betting at WagerWeb.com
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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