The San Francisco Giants take on the St. Louis Cardinals today in Game 2 of a four-game series in San Francisco. The Giants come into this game dealing with plenty of COVID issues, and they have lost four straight games as a result. They have also lost 6 of their last 10 games. They are getting healthier though, Mike Yastrzemski and Zack Littell returned recently, and they are expecting others like Brandon Belt back soon. Lamonte Wade Jr. is also expected to be activated from the IL tonight after missing the start of the season with an injured knee. The St. Louis Cardinals have been playing well winning 6 of their last 10 games but they are still 15-10 overall while the Giants are 14-11.
The Giants scratched Logan Webb last night before going with a bullpen game and he Cardinals ended up going 5 for 10 with Runners In Scoring Position and winning the game 7-1. Tonight, the Giants are starting Alex Cobb. He has struggled a bit to start the season, including in his last outing, but I think he’ll be fine. He had an error in his last start that contributed to an early exit, but he should be able to bounce back. The Giants were also off on Wednesday, so they were able to save all their bullpen arms. The Cardinals bullpen also has everyone available in what are pretty evenly matched bullpens. However, Jordan Hicks is starting for the Cardinals, and he still isn’t completely built up to go deep into the game. That means the bullpen should have to pitch plenty of innings today.
The Giants are very good against righties and adding another lefty in Wade Jr. helps that lineup. On the other hand, the Cardinals are ranked just 23rd in the league in wOBA against righties. The Giants should be able to have success against the righty heavy lineup of the Cardinals with Cobb and their bullpen. The Giants went 1 for 6 with RISP and left 10 runners on base last night, while the Cardinals went 5 for 10 with RISP and only left 6 runners on. I don’t think the Cardinals will be able to capitalize on their opportunities like they did last night, and I think the Giants should be able to take advantage of their opportunities. I like the Giants tonight at home to even the series.
