Cardinals vs. Red Sox prediction and odds for Friday, May 12 (Is St. Louis Getting Hot?)

It’s been a while since James Paxton has been on a major league mound, but on Friday in Boston he will make his Red Sox debut against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Boston Red Sox are 22-16 heading into Game 1 of this weekend series with the 13-25 Cardinals. However, St. Louis has won three of their last four games. 

The Cardinals will send Adam Wainwright to the mound to make his second start of the season after allowing four runs over five innings in his season debut last week. Let’s get into the odds for the Cardinals and Red Sox at Fenway Park. 

Cardinals vs. Red Sox odds, run line and total

Cardinals vs. Red Sox prediction and pick

Paxton has not pitched in the MLB since 2021 when he was back with the Mariners after a brief stint in the AL East as a Yankee. He is returning from Tommy John after rehabbing all of last season. With Paxton and Wainwright on the mound, this will be a matchup of two aging pitchers who haven’t had much if any work this season. Wainwright gave up eight hits in his five inning outing on May 6, but frankly it is too small of a sample to pull anything from.

What we do have a significant sample of is the St. Louis Cardinals hitting left-handed pitchers well. With Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt at the heart of their order they have been a tough matchup for lefties the past two seasons. They are currently eighth in OPS vs. lefties and Goldschmidt has a .962 OPS. Tommy Edman actually is hitting the best of any Cardinals against left-handers with a .719 slugging percentage in 32 at-bats, the second most on the team. 

Despite the Cardinals finding themselves well under .500, this isn't a soft landing spot for Paxton. St. Louis is playing well since converting Willson Contreras to full-time DH and I think they’ll win another one tonight. 

Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change