St. Louis Cardinals Vs. Pittsburgh Pirates 6/29/12: Tyrone's Free MLB Baseball ... - Sports Chat Place

Two National League Central heavyweights go toe-to-toe starting Friday from Busch Stadim when the 40-36 St. Louis Cardinals welcome in the 40-35 Pittsburgh Pirates.

A five-run first inning propelled Pittsburgh to an improbable 5-4 win over the 36-42 Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. 2-8 Kyle Kendrick with a 5.35 ERA conceded five runs during seven innings, but gave up back-to-back Casey McGehee and Pedro Alvarez home runs with one out during the first. The Pirates totaled six hits on Kendrick, just two after the top of the first. Greg Jones' RBI-single also scored a run for Pittsburgh during the first frame.

St. L failed to sweep the 35-40 Miami Marlins on Wednesday losing two leads to fall 5-3. The Cards knocked in two runs during the top of the first on Carlos Beltran's sacrifice fly and David Freese's RBI-double. Tony Cruz's seventh-inning home run put St. Louis back ahead, but the Cardinals crumbled with Miami up to bat the next two frames.

6-7 Adam Wainwright with a 4.32 ERA throws next for St L who is 3-5 with him at Busch. Wainwright has been beaten by the 40-34 Atlanta Braves, 26-49 Chicago Cubs, 40-35 Chicago White Sox, 41-33 Cincinnati Reds and 40-36 New York Mets getting slammed for 19 runs during 19.1 innings. Philadelphia, the Pirates and 27-49 San Diego Padres lost to Wainwright by only tallying five runs during 22 innings. Pittsburgh lost 10-7 on May 1 at PNC Park and is 28-for-103 with a dozen RBIs, three each from Garrett Jones, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker, versus Wainwright.

3-6 Kevin Correia with a 4.03 ERA goes against the Cards on Friday. St. Louis is 36-for-118 with 17 RBIs, six Matt Holliday's versus Correia who is 2-4 on the road this year. The 34-41 Milwaukee Brewers and 43-33 San Francisco Giants couldn't do much offensively on Correia at their home ballparks striking in three runs during 11.2 innings in losses. In Correia away losses Atlanta, the 41-33 Baltimore Orioles, 36-39 Detroit Tigers and Marlins wrote in 17 runs, 15 earned, during 20 innings. I like Correia more than Wainwright and will go with the Pirates to take the opener.