St. Louis Cardinals vs Tampa Bay Rays Prediction 8-8-24 MLB Picks

The Tampa Bay Rays and the St. Louis Cardinals meet Thursday in MLB action from Busch Stadium. Here’s a St. Louis Cardinals vs Tampa Bay Rays prediction. This will be the final installment in a three-Game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Cardinals vs Rays pick.

Tampa Bay Rays Betting Preview

Over the weekend the Rays took on the Houston Astros. Tampa Bay lost 3-2 in the opener but won the next pair for a series victory. Following a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals on Tuesday, in Game two the Rays took a 5-2 loss. Starter Taj Bradley finished with 4.2 innings and five earned runs.

In the starter slot for Thursday it’ll be Tampa’s Shane Baz. This year Baz is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA in five starts. In his career Baz is 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 14 starts. The Rays will meet the Orioles after this series.

St. Louis Cardinals Betting Preview

Over on the Cardinals’ side, they played a one-off Game versus the New York Mets on Monday. St. Louis ended up losing that one in a blowout 6-0. After their Tuesday win, in the Wednesday matchup the Cards scored twice in both the third and fourth innings. Erick Fedde managed 5.0 innings and one earned run as starter.

Kyle Gibson will start for St. Louis on Thursday. This year Gibson is 7-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 21 starts. Gibson is 111-104 with a 4.51 ERA in 321 Games (315 starts) over his career.

St. Louis Cardinals vs Tampa Bay Rays Prediction

I’ll try the Cardinals in this one. Gibson didn’t have the greatest start his last time out, giving up four earned in 7.0 innings versus the Cubs. In the two starts prior to that however, Gibson posted three earned in 11.2 innings of work. As for Baz, he’s got four earned over his last 11.1 innings total.

On Wednesday the Cardinals bagged nine team hits but those only belonged to five different batters. Still, it was a pretty nice all-around effort to snag another win. I like St. Louis well enough to potentially make this series a sweep Thursday.