Detroit @ St Louis (Jackson vs. Wellemeyer)
Recommendation: Take Detroit (-120)
Detroit hasn’t suffered any extended losing streaks this season, in large part because their starting pitching has been good enough to carry them through any offensive slumps. On the night after Justin Verlander’s extended string of excellence finally ended, look for Edwin Jackson to return the Tigers to their winning ways this evening.
Jackson has been downright dominant since the beginning of May; 5-1 with a 1.61 ERA in his last seven starts. Jackson has been equally dominant on the highway in 2009, entering tonight’s game with a 1.55 ERA, allowing less than a baserunner per inning in his seven previous road outings. Facing a Cardinals lineup held to three runs or less in nine of their last 13 and 28 of their last 47 games, look for another strong showing from Jackson tonight.
Todd Wellemeyer won 13 games for St Louis last year, while pitching a career high 191 innings. It’s clear that last year’s workload has affected the Cardinals righty here in 2009. His velocity is way down, his strikeouts are way down, his walks are up. Last year, opposing batters hit .245 against Wellemeyer. This year, they are hitting .307 against him. Wellemeyer has only one quality start in his last seven trips to the hill, and he’s been hit extremely hard in each of his last two outings. The Cardinals are underdogs at home tonight for a reason…..
Take Detroit.
