Since the 2019 All-Star break, Jack Flaherty has been the best pitcher in baseball in nearly every statistical category. He will look to push the St. Louis Cardinals past the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday afternoon at Miller Park.
Flaherty has given up three or fewer runs in each of his last 17 regular-season starts dating back to July 7, 2019. He has a 1.03 ERA and opponents are hitting below .145. The lone team that has had success against Flaherty in that span is the Brewers, who have beaten him twice as the Cardinals have given him three runs of support in those two starts.
This is not the same Brewers team, though, as Mike Moustakas and Eric Thames, who combined for 60 home runs, are both on other teams while former NL MVP Christian Yelich has one hit in 28 plate appearances this season.
The Cardinals are also having their hitting issues, averaging 3.6 runs per game with the team batting average of .217, which is higher than the .198 the Brewers currently have.
Brett Anderson is slated to make his Brewers debut after spending 2019 with the Oakland Athletics, where he gave up three earned runs of fewer in 19 of his final 22 starts of the season. Seven of the past 11 Cardinals-Brewers games have been Unders. With both teams getting a day off before the series, the bullpens will be rested. This should lead to a low-scoring game and the total staying under.
The play: Cardinals-Brewers, Under 8¹/₂ runs (+100).