St. Louis Cardinals vs. San Francisco Giants Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/5/2022

Time: 9:45 p.m. ET

Venue: Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA

Where to watch: NBC Sports Bay Area, Bally Sports Midwest

DraftKings: Check back later

BetMGM: Check back later

Caesars: Check back later

Cardinals: 14-10

Giants: 14-10

It took a little bit, but the St. Louis Cardinals’ bats came alive Wednesday in an emphatic way. More specifically, Nolan Arenado might be the second coming of a younger Albert Pujols, or Albert Pujols is currently giving his powers to Arenado.

Arenado crushed his seventh homer of the season and drove in five runs to propel the Cardinals to a 10-0 win over the Kansas City Royals to complete an impromptu 3-game sweep over the midwest rivals. Adam Wainwright threw a dominant seven innings of one-hit ball and only needed to strike out two.

“I looked at [Arenado] and I looked at [Paul Goldschmidt], and I said, ‘Y’all don’t even have [a championship] and you really need one because it’s really fun,’” Wainwright said. “It hit me, those guys have been playing a long time, and they’re really good and they don’t have a World Series. That’s why they are doing this, and it’s why they came here -- because they think we can win here. Anything less than that for us is not good enough. These guys are competitors -- and they’re winning players -- and they want to hold that trophy.”

The way this Cardinals team is set up, there’s no surprise as to why they are considered a favorite in the National League. You look across the board with how crazy good this team is, from the rotation to the batting order, and it’s scary. I wouldn’t want to pitch to this lineup, nor would I want to even think about facing this pitching rotation when a 40-year-old Wainwright is dominating fools like this.

And the fact he and Yadier Molina are still doing things at this rate together is incredible. The two combined for their 202nd win as a unit, one of the winningest batteries in baseball history.

“It’s the most important stat in the game. You have to win games to win a World Series, you have to win games to win a division,” Wainwright said. “Winning is the most important thing. And when I’m still winning games with Yadi after all these years, it just tells you that we’ve been battling together for a long time. That’s what makes this so special -- me and him have been together for so long to make this possible.”

At the time of publishing, the San Francisco Giants – who will face the Cardinals on Thursday – are in a battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers for supremacy in the National League West. The Giants lost 3-1 to the Dodgers on Tuesday with Julio Urias doing what he normally does in six innings of work.

What we’ve learned from that is when the star pitchers get going, it is possible to stop the bats. Miles Mikolas, St. Louis’ leader in ERA, is taking the mound for the Cardinals while a starter has yet to be determined for the Giants.

Thinking that the Cardinals could use a string of wins to get going, and I’m thinking the Cardinals will get a strong outing from Mikolas no matter who the Giants send on the bump to get an important victory. Cardinals win 7-4

Cardinals are 34-23 on the road when the line is between +125 and -125 the past three seasons.

Giants are 106-66 in the past three seasons against right-handed starters.

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

Giants:
Joc Pederson (L) DH
Wilmer Flores (R) 1B
Darin Ruf (R) LF
Brandon Crawford (L) SS
Thairo Estrada (R) 2B
Mike Yastrzemski (L) CF
Kevin Padlo (R) 3B
Luis Gonzalez (L) RF
Joey Bart (R) C

Batting average: Nolan Arenado -- .360

Hits: Nolan Arenado -- 31

Home runs: Nolan Arenado -- 7

RBI: Nolan Arenado -- 23

Wins: Two tied -- 3

Saves: Giovanny Gallegos -- 5

ERA: Miles Mikolas -- 1.52

Batting average: Wilmer Flores -- .268

Hits: Wilmer Flores -- 22

Home runs: Joc Pederson -- 6

RBI: Thairo Estrada -- 14

Wins: Two tied -- 3

Saves: Camillo Doval -- 4

ERA: Carlos Rodon -- 1.65