Texas Rangers Beat St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 for Series Sweep

The Texas Rangers swept the St. Louis Cardinals with a wet 2-1 victory last night. The Cardinals are one of the best teams in baseball, and they sent their ten-game-winning ace Adam Wainwright to the mound. However, the Rangers got it done by scoring two runs in the seventh inning to take a 2-1 victory.

“It says a lot when you sweep a team that’s that talented, so I think that’s definitely a boost,” said Texas hitter David Murphy. “We had a lot of fun, we played with energy and we did exactly what we wanted to.”

However, there was controversy when Wainwright was pulled after 105 pitches, going 6 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and one walk. St. Louis manager Mike Maheny told reporters that Wainwright was “laboring,” a contention that Wainwright furiously disputed after the game.

“Guys were running on the field and he’d already spoken to the umpire. No amount of lobbying, I wasn’t going to stay in that game,” Wainwright said. “But I mean, no, I didn’t want to come out of that game. I felt I was as strong or stronger at the end there than I was in the beginning.”

“He’s wrong. You don’t want to call your manager out and I would never do that,” Wainwright continued. “Laboring is not what I was doing. He’s the manager. He makes the call. I should have got the last hitter out I faced.”

It was an ugly game played in wet conditions, but the Rangers know they were fortunate to escape St. Louis with a sweep over one of baseball’s very best squads. They also needed the win; Texas is now only one game ahead of the Oakland A’s in the AL West. Despite giving up two hits in the ninth inning, Joe Nathan was able to get a scrappy save and give the Rangers the win they needed.

“Sometimes it’s nice and sometimes it’s pretty and sometimes it’s beautiful and sometimes it’s not,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “Sometimes it’s ugly, but the bottom line is he gets three outs.”

Here were some of the betting trends and figures for both teams heading into this game, courtesy of OddsShark.com.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Texas Rangers

St. Louis Cardinals: -180 Moneyline Favorites

Texas Rangers Trends:
When playing on Sunday are 5-5
Before playing NY Yankees are 3-7
After playing St. Louis are 5-5
After a win are 5-5

St. Louis Cardinals Trends:
When playing on Sunday are 5-5
Before playing Houston are 9-1
After playing Texas are 5-5
After a loss are 8-2

A few Rangers at Cardinals trends to consider:
Texas is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Texas’ last 13 games
Texas is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing St. Louis
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of St. Louis’ last 6 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of St. Louis’ last 6 games at home
St. Louis is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing Texas