A pair of baseball’s best hitters square off when the St. Louis Cardinals (33-26) and the Kansas City Royals (31-29) play at 7:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Busch Stadium. Brendan Donovan has a .323 batting average (eighth in MLB) for the favored Cardinals (-143), while Maikel Garcia ranks 10th in MLB action batting .316 this season for the underdog Royals (+121). St. Louis has Andre Pallante set to start, while Kansas City will send out Michael Lorenzen.

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Cardinals vs. Royals betting lines

• Favorite: Cardinals (-143)
• Underdog: Royals (+121)
• Over/under: 8.5

Cardinals betting info, hitting leaders, & pitching

Cardinals betting info

• The Cardinals have compiled a 13-10 record in games they were favored on the moneyline (winning 56.5% of those games).
• St. Louis has a 5-1 record (winning 83.3% of its games) when it has played as moneyline favorites of -143 or shorter.
• Based on this game’s moneyline, the Cardinals have an implied win probability of 58.8%.
• St. Louis has played in 59 games with set over/under, and have combined with opponents to go over the total 31 times (31-26-2).
• The Cardinals are 34-25-0 ATS this season.

Cardinals hitting info

• Donovan has racked up a team-high batting average of .323.
• Among all hitters in MLB action, Donovan’s home run total ranks 168th and his RBI tally ranks 107th.
• Lars Nootbaar has shown his power as he paces his team with eight home runs.
• Among all MLB hitters, Nootbaar ranks 66th in home runs and 75th in RBI.
• Nolan Arenado is batting .228 with 10 doubles, a triple, six home runs and 20 walks.
• Masyn Winn has nine doubles, six home runs and 18 walks while batting .276.
• Winn takes a two-game hitting streak into this game. During his last five outings he is batting .409 with three doubles and three RBIs.

Cardinals pitching rankings

• The 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings compiled by the Cardinals pitching staff ranks 28th in the majors.
• St. Louis has a 3.78 team ERA that ranks 13th among all MLB pitching staffs.
• Pitchers for the Cardinals combine for the 14th-ranked WHIP in MLB (1.241).
• The Cardinals give up the third-fewest home runs in baseball (45 total, 0.8 per game).
• St. Louis its 8-1 loss the last time out, the team struck out six Rangers batters while allowing nine hits.

Royals betting info, hitting leaders, & pitching

Royals betting info

• The Royals have been underdogs in 36 games this season and won 18 (50%) of those contests.
• Kansas City has a record of 6-4, a 60% win rate, when it’s set as an underdog of +121 or more by bookmakers this season.
• The Royals have a 45.2% chance to win this game based on the implied probability of the moneyline.
• Kansas City’s games have gone over the total in 21 of its 60 chances.
• The Royals have an ATS record of 32-28-0 in 60 games with a spread this season.

Royals hitting info

• Bobby Witt Jr. leads Kansas City in runs batted in with 31 and has a batting average of .283.
• Among all hitters in MLB, Witt is 112th in homers and 50th in RBI.
• Garcia is batting .316 to lead Kansas City, while adding five homers and 25 runs batted in this season.
• Garcia currently is 137th in home runs and 97th in RBI in the major leagues.
• Vinnie Pasquantino leads the club in homers (eight) and runs batted in (31) this season.
• Pasquantino heads into this game on a three-game hitting streak. In his last five games he is hitting .200 with four walks and an RBI.
• Jonathan India has collected 47 hits this season and has an OBP of .328. He’s slugging .300 on the year.

Royals pitching rankings

• The Royals average the 15th-most strikeouts per nine innings (8.2) in the majors this season.
• Kansas City has pitched to a 3.13 ERA this season, which ranks third in baseball.
• The Royals have a combined 1.181 WHIP as a pitching staff, sixth-lowest in MLB.
• The Royals have allowed the seventh-fewest home runs this season at just 56, or 0.9 per game.
• Last time out, Kansas City fell to the Tigers 1-0. Its pitchers compiled 10 strikeouts and five hits allowed.