Houston Astros vs St. Louis Cardinals Prediction & Picks - MLB

Prediction published on 4/18/26, 3:14 PM  by Travis Pulver | Modified on 4/19/26 at 9:11 AM in MLB Picks

The Astros (8-13, 7-4 Home) will try to end the current slide at two games when they host the St. Louis Cardinals (11-8, 4-3 Away) in Game Two of a three-game series at Daiken Park in Houston, TX. Game time is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. EST with coverage provided by MLB.TV.

It has not been a great start to the season for the Astros. With Friday night's loss to the Cardinals, Houston has dropped 10 of its last 12 games. Generating offense has not been an issue; the Astros rank fourth in the league with a .262 batting average and fifth in runs scored with 111 (one of eight teams with 100+ runs scored). But the pitching has been awful. The staff has the worst ERA in baseball at 6.09, and only the Nationals have surrendered more home runs (20).

Houston will turn to Lance McCullers Jr. to start the day. McCullers Jr. had a great start in his first outing, going seven innings and giving up four hits and one run. But he struggled in his last two, failing to get out of the fourth inning in both and allowing a total of nine earned runs.

Andre Pallante will start for the Cardinals. Like McCullers Jr., he had a great start in his first outing (five innings, three hits, no runs allowed). His second wasn’t bad (five innings, three hits, four walks, two earned runs), but he was hit hard in his last one (five innings, nine hits, seven earned runs).