St. Louis Cardinals vs. Boston Red Sox Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 6/18/2022

Time: 7:15 p.m. ET

Venue: Fenway Park, Boston, MA

Where to watch: FOX

DraftKings: Red Sox -115, Cardinals -105

BetMGM: Red Sox -120, Cardinals +100

Caesars: Red Sox -120, Cardinals +100

Cardinals: 37-29

Red Sox: 35-30

The Boston Red Sox will look to try and keep the winning ways going after a rather solid win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the first game of their three-game series, winning 6-5 on Friday in Fenway Park. The Red Sox, looking up at Toronto and the Yankees in terms of the AL East standings, have been on a roll over the past few weeks and are now five games above .500 and looking like a legit threat once again.

Of course, that’ll come down to the Red Sox’s pitching staff minus Chris Sale, but the batting order has nothing to worry about. Xander Bogaerts went 3 for 4 to push his batting average up to .339, and Rafael Devers went 2 for 3 with two RBI to pus his average up to .333. Even JD Martinez is hitting close to .350.

It’s nearly wild that this team, with as much top-end talent as it has, that it struggled as much as it did in the first half of the season. But to get an impressive win over the NL Central-leading Cardinals shows that at least the Red Sox can compete with the top teams in the league.

"Today felt like it was a special Friday night, with their fans, with our fans," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "That last inning got interesting, but you expect that against them. They play just like us, until the last out."

The Cardinals did cut things close with a four-run ninth inning with the young bats – Tommy Edman and Brenden Donovan – leading the charge with three RBI from the two of them, but the rally fell just short. Nolan Arenado hit a homer to tie the game in the top of the second before the Red Sox scored five unanswered with Trevor Story, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Devers driving in runs.

"Good rally," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "Guys took some pretty good at-bats, strung together some quality at-bats. You go down the line and it's a pretty solid string of quality."

Michael Wacha, facing his former team, went 5.1 innings and struck out five while throwing 88 pitches. Adam Wainwright was at the other end, and the 40-year-old wonder went 6.1 innings, but did give up four of those runs while throwing 96 pitches.

"I tried not to let myself think about it too much," Wacha said of facing his former team. "Tried to just approach it like any other start, any other game."

"Obviously, there's a lot of good friends and good buddies over there. So, I was just trying not to make too much eye contact with them and let my thoughts kind of wander, but just kind of focus on making quality pitches and giving this team a chance to win a ballgame. So, it was a fun night," he said.

Wainwright, who has been as solid as one at his age can be, had a really rare start where the offense teed off on him. His ERA went back up to a little over 3.00, but he’s been great all year no matter what the circumstance has been.

"I was disappointed in a couple of pitches," Wainwright said. "I had command most of the time, but made a couple of fastball mistakes, cost me a couple of runs there. It could have been good. I wish we could have held them there. We probably would have won the game. We didn't."

I’m not really thinking much about the Cardinals falling back into a consecutive loss run. With the Milwaukee Brewers winning 5-4 over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, it might be a matter of time where the Brewers can creep back up and catch the Cardinals. Knowing that, I’d expect the red birds to bounce back and get a good victory. Cardinals win 7-5

Cardinals are 6-12 as a road dog this season.

Cardinals are 16-15 on the road this season.

Cardinals are 40-52 against AL East teams since 1997.

Red Sox are 60-41 the past three seasons as a home favorite.

Red Sox are 29-13 in June the past three seasons.

Cardinals:
Tommy Edman (S) SS
Brendan Donovan (L) 2B
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Nolan Gorman (L) DH
Tyler O'Neill (R) LF
Dylan Carlson (S) RF
Harrison Bader (R) CF
Andrew Knizner (R) C
SP - Dakota Hudson

Red Sox:
Jarren Duran (L) CF
Rafael Devers (L) 3B
J.D. Martinez (R) DH
Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
Alex Verdugo (L) LF
Trevor Story (R) 2B
Franchy Cordero (L) 1B
Christian Vazquez (R) C
Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) RF
SP - Kutter Crawford