St. Louis Cardinals vs. Milwaukee Brewers Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/15/2022

Time: 8:10 p.m. ET

Venue: American Family Field, Milwaukee, WI

Where to watch: Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports Wisconsin

DraftKings: Brewers -155, Cardinals +135

BetMGM: Brewers -155, Cardinals +125

Caesars: Brewers -161, Cardinals +140

Cardinals: 3-2

Brewers: 4-3

After playing the first six away from home, the Milwaukee Brewers played their home opener and gave their fans something to cheer about just like last season. The Brewers got off to a solid start at home with a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the first of a four-game series between the NL Central rivals.

 

Game 2 of the set is Friday in a pitching matchup that should be as good as Thursday’s game. Miles Mikolas will take the mound for the Cardinals against Freddy Peralta for the Brew Crew.

 

Thursday’s game was just as exciting, and the Brewers got Brandon Woodruff to return to form after a shaky start in his season debut. Woodruff, one start after giving up seven runs in 3.2 innings against the Chicago Cubs last week, came back with five shutout innings with only two strikeouts to quiet the St. Louis bats.

 

Omar Navarez had a homer and an RBI double, and the Brewers got back into the win column by one of the heads of their three-headed rotation monster. Andrew McCutchen also continued his renaissance start with his new team with an RBI single.

 

"I think last year I probably would have let that get to me a little bit and maybe not executed as well," Woodruff said about getting out of an early jam involving Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill. "But in that moment, I just kept telling myself to take a breath, clear it out, reset and worry about the next pitch. I was able to do a pretty good job of that."

 

With all the storylines involving the National League Central to start the season, we can’t forget about the Brewers and their pitching dominance. It’s just a matter of combining the two that seems to be a problem for Milwaukee. That wasn’t a problem on Thursday when the Brewers hung four runs on Adam Wainwright and chased him after 4.1 innings of work.

 

"Just real sloppy," Wainwright said. "There were times I executed well and there were probably a lot of times where I normally would have executed a lot better. Too many mistakes early in the game in the middle of the plate."

 

The Cardinals were held to just five hits with no one tallying more than one. Goldschmdt and O’Neill combined to go 0-for-7; Nolan Arenado went 1-for-4, and Albert Pujols went 1-for-3. The only run driven in came from the nine spot, second baseman Tommy Edman, who hit a 423-foot homer to center field in the top of the eighth inning.

 

That kind of production is not going to get it done for the Cardinals, but I’d be shocked to see them not bounce back heading into the second game of this series.

 

Peralta is also in need of a bounce-back effort after going just four innings and giving up three earned runs against the Cubs during the week. Mikolas, meanwhile, is also in need of a better performance after getting pulled after 3.2 innings on April 9 against the Pittsburgh pirates. He gave up six hits and allowed only two runs, but the Pirates continued to threaten him with contact, not with production.

When it comes down to who I trust more in the situation of bouncing back, I like Peralta in this matchup. Had it not been for Corbin Burnes, people tend to forget Peralta showed at times he was the best pitcher on this team and has the tendency to show it every night. Milwaukee can’t go cold from the plate again, but I think Peralta will do more than enough to keep the game at bay for the home team. Brewers win 6-3

Cardinals are 38-41 the past three seasons as an underdog with ML between +100 and +150.

Cardinals are 4-0 when Mikolas starts and the team is an underdog with ML between +100 and +150 over the past three years.

Brewers are 52-33 the past three years as a favorite of -150 or more.

Cardinals:
Dylan Carlson (S) RF
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Tyler O'Neill (R) LF
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Albert Pujols (R) DH
Paul DeJong (R) SS
Harrison Bader (R) CF
Yadier Molina (R) C
Tommy Edman (S) 2B

Brewers:
Kolten Wong (L) 2B
Willy Adames (R) SS
Christian Yelich (L) LF
Andrew McCutchen (R) DH
Rowdy Tellez (L) 1B
Hunter Renfroe (R) RF
Omar Narvaez (L) C
Lorenzo Cain (R) CF
Jace Peterson (L) 3B

STL: Miles Mikolas
MIL: Freddy Peralta

Batting average: Two tied -- .400

Hits: Nolan Arenado -- 9

Home runs: Nolan Arenado -- 3

RBI: Nolan Arenado -- 9

Wins: Three tied -- 1

Saves: Giovanny Gallegos -- 1

ERA: Adam Wainwright -- 3.48

Batting average: Christian Yelich -- .261

Hits: Two tied -- 6

Home runs: Four tied -- 1

RBI: Two tied -- 4

Wins: Three tied -- 1

Saves: Josh Hader -- 2

ERA: Corbin Burnes -- 2.25