The St. Louis Cardinals look to extend the Cincinnati Reds losing skid to 10 games
April 22, 2022
Cardinals at Reds
Great American Ballpark – Cincinnati, OH
6:40 PM ET
St. Louis -125
Not that long ago, the Reds were off to a decent start to the season. They were 2-2, getting a split in a road series against the defending World Series champions. There was reason for optimism in Cincinnati.
Fast forward 12 days and a lot has changed. The Reds haven’t won a game since.
Currently in the midst of a nine-game skid, Cincinnati has slipped to 2-11. That’s the worst record in all of baseball, as it’s the only team with double-digit losses at this early stage of the season.
During the slide, the Reds offense has simply disappeared. They’ve managed just 18 totals runs over the nine games. They’re hitting just .177 as a team on the season. They’ve been stymied by the Guardians, Dodgers and Padres pitching staffs.
Tonight, the Cardinals get their chance to bolster their stats against the Reds. More specifically, Steven Matz gets a shot at building upon his last outing.
After giving up seven runs on nine hits in his first start of the season, the lefty bounced back in his second start. He threw 5.2 innings against Milwaukee in a 2-1 victory, giving up just three hits and not surrendering a run.
That’s the kind of performance the Cardinals expected from the 30-year-old hurler coming off of last season’s 14-7 record. Perhaps the shortened spring training made things a little bumpy out of the gate.
As a team, St. Louis is off to a good start. The Cardinals are 7-4 on the year, including a 4-3 run during their current 10-game road trip.
In large part, they’ve gotten there by riding the hot bat of Nolan Arenado. The All-Star third baseman is currently second in the National League in hitting (.405), second in home runs (5) and third in RBIs (14). His 1.349 OPS leads the NL.
Losing ten straight games in baseball is hard to do. The law of averages makes it so. But there’s no reason to think the Reds will right the ship tonight.
Richard DeMala’s pick: St. Louis M/L (-125)
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