Game Information
St. Louis Cardinals (4-6) at Pittsburgh Pirates (4-7)
Time: 5:40pm CT Tuesday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Probable pitchers: Sonny Gray (1-0, 5.73 ERA) vs Paul Skenes (1-0, 1.46 ERA)
DraftKings Odds
Moneyline: Pirates -135, Cardinals +114
Total: 6.5 (over -118, under -102)
Aces Square Off In Pittsburgh
It’s a pitchers duel on paper tonight as Sonny Gray and the St. Louis Cardinals take on Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second game of a three-game series.
The Redbirds dropped their fourth in a row last night with an 8-4 loss at Pittsburgh. High-scoring games have been a theme for the Cards this season, as the over is now 8-1-1 in their 10 games.
But for tonight’s pick, I’m not going to worry about how many runs are scored or who wins the game. I’m going to focus on what these aces do best - get strikeouts.
Gray Gets K’s
Gray is coming off a 2024 season where he struck out 203 hitters in 166.1 innings, and here in 2025 he has picked up right where he left off. Gray has recorded 15 strikeouts in his first two starts of this season covering 11 innings pitched. He had 6 K’s in his 5-inning outing to open the season against the Twins and followed that up with 9 strikeouts over 6 innings against the Angels.
Gray faced the Pirates twice last season and notched 17 K’s in 12.2 innings. He has also enjoyed pitching at PNC Park in his career with 15 strikeouts and a 1.35 ERA over 13.1 innings.
Skenes Secures Strikeouts
Skenes has been his usual dominant self in his first two starts of the season. He pitched 5.1 innings of 2-run ball with 7 strikeouts in the Pirates’ season opener against the Marlins, and then he went 7 innings with no earned runs and 6 K’s in his second start against the Rays.
The Cardinals have actually had some degree of success against Skenes, as they are the only team to have beaten him twice in his big league career. Skenes is 0-2 in his 3 career starts against the Cards, but he still pitched incredibly well in those outings with a 1.31 ERA and 23 strikeouts over 20.2 innings.
My Pick
One strategy I love in sports gambling is taking two aspects of a game that I think are very likely to hit and combining them into one bet that gets me in the neighborhood of -110 - and I’m doing that here with a Same Game Parlay on DraftKings.
The data is overwhelming that both Gray and Skenes will record at least 6 strikeouts, and if you put those two bets together, you can get it at -120.
Gray has gotten 6 or more punchouts in 26 of his 30 starts as a Cardinal - that’s 86.6% of the time.
Skenes has recorded 6+ strikeouts in 22 of his 25 big league starts - that’s a hit rate of 88%. And one of those starts was a planned abbreviated outing, so he’s more like 22-of-24.
I absolutely love this play, and barring injury from either Gray or Skenes, I would be very surprised if it doesn’t hit.
Pick: Same Game Parlay priced at -120 on DraftKings - both Sonny Gray and Paul Skenes to record 6+ strikeouts (bet up to -130)
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every Friday on the Sports Hub STL YouTube channel. Follow him on X @GamblingDads, and click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams. Picks = betting the game - minus odds betting to win 1 unit, plus odds risking 1 unit. Leans = no strong opinion, not betting the game. Disclaimer