Stephen Strasburg has been the dominant storyline of the Washington National’s season. The standout rookie has exceeded expectations and has proven to be a strikeout machine. He was scheduled to start in Washington’s series-opening game with the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, but was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday.
The Cardinals are heavily favored in baseball betting lines listed as -195 and the over/under is 7.5.
Instead of starting Strasburg, the Washington Nationals (53-74, 31-30 home) will hand the ball to Jordan Zimmerman. The right-hander will be making his first start in more than a year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last August. He has been solid in his rehab starts for Triple-A Syracuse, posting a 0.53 ERA in four starts.
The Nationals will face a Cardinals team that hasn’t been able to get the job done against bad teams. The St. Louis Cardinals (68-56, 27-33 away) are coming off of back-to-back losses to Pittsburgh, the worst team in the majors. In the seven series they have played against sub-.500 teams, they have lost six. They have lost 7 of 10 overall to fall 3 ½ games behind Cincinnati for first place in the NL Central.
St. Louis has had Washington’s number as of late, however. They have won 13 of their last 15 games with the Nationals and look to win their fifth in a row against them on Thursday.
Chris Carpenter (14-4, 2.88 ERA) will take the mound for St. Louis. The right-hander is 5-1 with a 1.99 ERA since the All-Star break. He gave up two runs in eight innings of a 3-2 win over Washington on May 18.
