Kansas City Royals vs. St. Louis Cardinals Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/12/2022

Time: 7:45 p.m. ET

Venue: Busch Stadium

Where to watch: Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Midwest

DraftKings: Cardinals -170, Royals +150

BetMGM: Cardinals -200, Royals +165

Caesars: Cardinals -179, Royals +160

Royals: 2-2

Cardinals: 2-1

When one thinks of the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals playing, of course we revert back to the 1985 World Series. Of course a lot has happened since then. Both teams have won world championships, but the Cardinals have gotten the majority of them when compared.

But in the current stages of 2022, the Cardinals are just a bit above the competition, and that includes the boys clad in baby blue. The teams will meet for a two-game set starting Tuesday in Busch Stadium before the Cardinals hit the road.

St. Louis opened the season by winning two of three against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the fourth game of the set was postponed due to weather. The Cardinals are coming off a loss on Sunday, 9-4 for the Pirates’ first win of the season.

Even though the Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning highlighted by a two-run home run from Nolan Arenado, the Pirates answered with eight unanswered runs with five in the third, capped by a grand slam from Michael Chavis.

After a strong start from Steven Matz, he ended up giving up seven runs on nine hits in just three innings.

"You want to go deep in games, it was really frustrating," Matz said. "Especially when you come out hot and get three runs. Right off the bat, you want to get the guys back (in the dugout) as quick and possible and I wasn't able to do that."

Even though it’s three games and a lot can happen in that time, what a scorching start for Arenado to pick up where he left off late last season. He’s already got six hits through three games, two of them being home runs, and he’s driven in seven RBI. With the emergence of Tyler O’Neill and the steady hand of Paul Goldschmidt, we can’t sleep on Arenado and the impact he provides from the third base spot.

Speaking of absurd tears to start the season, Andrew Benintendi is off to a ridiculous start with seven hits through his own four games, including the only home run so far for the Royals which came on Monday in a 10-7 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.

Beinintendi went 3-for-3 with three RBI and two walks, providing one-third of the team’s hits and almost half of their runs. Whit Merrifield went 2-for-5 but the Kansas City pitching was no match for the god-like batting ability of Steven Kwan in this one.

After winning the first two by way of dominant pitching, the Royals gave up 27 runs combined in their last two games including 17 the other day.

“We got a little taste of what we can do and a taste of things that we need to let go and get better from,” manager Mike Matheny said. “Overall, we’re not surprised, right? We saw runs happen with things that we’ve talked about.”

This week has been all about the debut of Bobby Witt Jr. and what the top-ranked prospect in baseball can achieve. So far, he’s delivered a go-ahead hit, but has also found himself striking out more than what was deemed necessary. He went down on strikes three times on Monday but still made plays in other areas, like drawing a walk before Benintendi’s two-run homer in the ninth.

“We knew we were going to have a really good defensive squad coming into the year, and I think that’s showed early in the series,” Whit Merrifield said. “Hopefully it’ll continue to give our pitchers confidence to pound the zone and let us work, especially here at home playing at The K.”

It’s Daniel Lynch against Dakota Hudson in this matchup and while there might not be a lot to go off of between these two, I wonder how the lack of offense is going to hurt Kansas City if the St. Louis bats get going. That might be more than enough for Hudson to get comfortable and get a victory if he throws a solid 5-6 innings. I like the Cardinals’ bats to keep on swinging. Cardinals win 7-4

Royals are 29-44 (+7.4 net games on ML) as an underdog of +150 or more the past three seasons.

Royals are 46-65 in past three seasons in road games.

Cardinals are 28-17 past three seasons as a favorite of -150 or more.

Royals:
Whit Merrifield (R) RF
Bobby Witt Jr. (R) 3B
Andrew Benintendi (L) LF
Salvador Perez (R) C
Carlos Santana (S) 1B
Hunter Dozier (R) DH
Adalberto Mondesi (S) SS
Michael A. Taylor (R) CF
Nicky Lopez (L) 2B

Cardinals:
Dylan Carlson (S) RF
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Tyler O'Neill (R) LF
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Albert Pujols (R) DH
Paul DeJong (R) SS
Yadier Molina (R) C
Harrison Bader (R) CF
Tommy Edman (S) 2B

KC: Daniel Lynch
STL: Dakota Hudson

Batting average: Andrew Benintendi -- .538

Hits: Andrew Benintendi -- 7

Home runs: Andrew Benintendi -- 1

RBI: Andrew Benintendi -- 4

Wins: Two tied -- 1

Saves: N/A

ERA: Brad Keller -- 0.00

Batting average: Nolan Arenado -- .500

Hits: Nolan Arenado -- 6

Home runs: Nolan Arenado -- 2

RBI: Nolan Arenado -- 7

Wins: Two tied -- 1

Saves: N/A

ERA: Adam Wainwright -- 0.00