This week, ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball will feature Game 4 of a four-game weekend series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs in Chicago, Illinois, at Wrigley Field. The first pitch of Game 4 is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET on Sunday night and will air on ESPN.
The St. Louis Cardinals avoided the series loss. They ended their two-game losing streak with a 5-4 win in Game 3 of the series on the road against the Chicago Cubs to improve their record to 57-54 this season, which puts them in 2nd place in the NL Central, 5.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for 1st place in the division, and two games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot in the National League.
St. Louis trailed 1-4 heading into the top of the 8th inning. However, they would tie the game 4-4 after scoring three runs in the 8th inning when Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan scored off a base hit from Nolan Arenado before scoring the game-winning run in the top of the 9th when Tommy Pham scored off a sacrifice fly ball hit by Lars Nootbaar. The win in Game 3 ended the three-game losing streak in the series for St. Louis against Chicago.
However, the Cardinals have lost six of the last ten games in the series this season and have been outscored by the Cubs by an average of 3.8 to 4.1 runs per game in those contests. The St. Louis Cardinals will look to split the series 2-2 with the Chicago Cubs when they travel to face the Cubs for Game 4.
The Chicago Cubs are in last place in the NL Central this season. They are five games below .500 at 54-59, which also gives them the 4th worst record in the National League and puts them six games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot in the National League following a 4-5 loss in Game 3 of their series at home against the St. Louis Cardinals which also ended their three-game winning streak.
The Cubs scored two runs in the 1st inning and another two runs in the 2nd inning to take a 4-1 lead in Game 3, which included a two-run home run hit by Michael Busch, which also scored Ian Happ while Jameson Taillon had a 4-1 lead after getting pulled after six innings, allowing one run, and recording four strikeouts. However, Porter Hodge would blow his 2nd save this season after the Cardinals scored three runs in the 8th inning.
The loss also ended the Cubs' three-game winning streak in the series. However, in the previous three games, Chicago has outscored St. Louis by an average of 5 to 4 runs per game. The Chicago Cubs will look to win the series 3-1 when they host the St. Louis Cardinals for Game 4 on Sunday night.
JustBet has the Chicago Cubs listed as -145 moneyline favorites at home against the St. Louis Cardinals for the Game 4 series on Sunday night. Chicago has won six of the last ten games with an average margin of .3 runs per game and two of the previous three games in the series against the Cardinals with an average margin of 1 run per game.
Miles Mikolas is 1-1 with a no-decision this season against the Cubs. However, he lost his most recent start against Chicago after allowing six runs in 5 ? innings pitched while. Justin Steele is 3-0 in his last three starts against Chicago, having allowed an average of 1.33 runs while recording seven strikeouts per game in those starts. The Cubs have also won six of the last nine home games in the series. As a result, I am taking the moneyline for the Chicago Cubs when they host the St. Louis Cardinals for Game 4 of the series on Sunday night.
