Los Angeles Dodgers vs St. Louis Cardinals 9/13/18 Odds, Preview and Prediction

The Los Angeles Dodgers play the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, September 13th at the Busch Stadium in the first of a four game set.

Entering Wednesday’s matches, the Dodgers are one game behind the Colorado Rockies in the National League West team standings with a 79-67 record. On the other hand, the Cardinals are four games behind National League Central leaders Chicago Cubs and currently hold the 2nd wild card spot in the National League with their 81-65 record.

Solid Season For Kershaw

The Dodgers will roll with Clayton Kershaw on Thursday. The 30 year old left hander from Dallas, Texas  has started a total of 22 games this season and currently has a 7-5 record with an ERA of 2.42, WHIP of 0.98 and K:BB of 134:21 across 137.1 innings pitched this season.

In his last start, Kershaw got the victory as the Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-2 last September 7th. Kershaw pitched six innings in that game and gave up two runs on six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts. The Dodgers are 7-3 in the last 10 games where Kershaw has pitched.

Kershaw has been very solid this season. He’s lost just once since April 25 and has not allowed more than two earned runs in a start since July 15. He’s also been very durable, having pitched at least since innings per outing since June 28. He was scheduled to pitch on Wednesday but was moved back a day to give him an additional day rest.

Justin Turner is the only Dodger who’s had more than one hit against Austin Gomber this season. Turner is 2-2 with a double and one run scored against the Cardinals’ starter for Thursday. The 3rd baseman was 2-5 with 3 RBIs in the Dodgers’ most recent game, an 8-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Cards Winning With Gomber

Austin Gomber will start for the Cardinals on Thursday. The 24 year old product of Florida Atlantic has pitched in a total of 25 games this season including 9 starts. The left hander has a record of 5-0 this season with an ERA of 2.93 and a WHIP of 1.34.

The Cardinals have lost just once in Gomber’s nine career starts including one against the Dodgers in Los Angeles last month. The lefty has not allowed more than three runs in his last six outings and has won four out of his last six starts.

Marcell Ozuna leads the Cardinals with 80 RBIs on the season and he’s having an excellent start to the month of September. Ozuna is batting 13-38 (.342) with five home runs and 10 RBIs for St. Louis this month. He’s drilled three homers in the last seven days.

Who Wins?

The Cardinals currently lead their head to head season series 3-0 with still 4 games left to play between these two teams. When this match-up is played in St. Louis, the Cardinals have owned the Dodgers, winning 38 out of their last 57 meetings at Busch Stadium.

Heading to this series, the Dodgers have won only two out of their last five and are currently on a two game losing streak. On the other hand, the Cardinals have won three of their last five and are on a three game winning streak. St. Louis is also 8-2 in their last 10 series openers and are 22-8 in their last 30 home games against left handed starters.Austin Gomber is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.13 when pitching at home and  he allowed just two runs on five hits in five innings pitched against the Dodgers in Los Angeles last August 20.