Cardinals, 'Waino' Cruise Past Padres Tuesday In Petco Park

The NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals (87-61) head to Petco Park Tuesday to start a 3-game set against the current NL wild card San Diego Padres (81-66). The Cardinals swept the Padres in a 3-game series in STL by a combined score of 14-7 earlier this season.

Let’s BET the ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (-105) at DraftKings Sportsbook to make it four consecutive wins vs. the Padres (-115) Tuesday. For the record, I'd take the Cardinals moneyline (ML) all the way up to -125.

Cardinals' ‘Waino’ Is Battle-Tested 

Cardinals are starting RHP Adam Wainwright (11-9, 3.29 ERA) aka Waino, aka Uncle Charlie because of his legendary 12-6 curveball.

Wainwright has a borderline Hall of Fame resume as a World Series champion, 3-time All-Star and probable 200+ game-winner.

Over the last three seasons, the Cardinals are 18-12 straight up (SU) vs. teams above-.500 with Wainwright on the mound. They have a +27.4% return on investment (ROI) and a +1.10 margin of victory (5.13-4.03). On the road in those spots, STL is 8-5 SU with a +42.4% ROI.

Clevinger Struggles Vs. Good Teams 

Padres send out RHP Mike Clevinger (5-7, 4.47 ERA) Tuesday and Clevinger is having a down season after spending most of the last three years injured. His FIP (“Fielding Independent Pitching”) is higher than his ERA (5.04). A higher FIP than ERA typically means the pitcher is due for regression.

Also, Clevinger bullies bad teams but gets nuked by good ball clubs. For his career, Clevinger has a 35.7% winning rate vs. teams above-.500 (76.% winning rate vs. losing teams) with a 5.10 ERA (2.61 ERA vs. losing teams).

This season, Clevinger is 1-5 SU vs. winning teams with a 6.33 ERA and a .214 BAbip. Clevinger has allowed double the home runs (HR) vs. winning teams (12-6 HRs) in 13 and 1/3 fewer innings pitched.  Again, this is despite Clevinger’s super-lucky .214 BAbip vs. winning teams.

Trends & ’Sharps’ Favor St. Louis 

Sharp action has taken the Cardinals from +115 on the opener up through zero and at the current number, according to Pregame.com.

This probably happened because the Padres are just 1-6 SU as home favorites of -125 or less with a -4.71 margin of victory (6.57-1.86) and -73.8% ROI.


Get over to DraftKings Sportsbook and BET the ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (-105).

Written by
Geoff Clark serves as OutKick’s sports betting guru. As a writer and host of OutKick Bets with Geoff Clark, he dives deep into the sports betting landscape and welcomes an array of sports betting personalities on his show to handicap America’s biggest sporting events. Previously, Clark was a writer/podcaster for USA TODAY's Sportsbook Wire website, handicapping all the major sports tentpoles with a major focus on the NFL, NBA and MLB. Clark graduated from St. John University.