The St. Louis Cardinals and visiting Pittsburgh Pirates will each try to get their bats going again when they open a three-game series Tuesday night.
The host Cardinals took two of three games from the Royals over the weekend, but were blanked 2-0 on Sunday after a strong Kansas City pitching effort led by Stephen Kolek.
The Pirates have lost three in a row after being swept by the Philadelphia Phillies and have dropped six of their past nine games. Pittsburgh was shut out 6-0 in back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday.
Pittsburgh will try to get back on track against St. Louis lefty Matthew Liberatore (2-2, 4.40). The Pirates will counter with righty Mitch Keller (4-2, 3.59 ERA).
Despite the loss Sunday, the Cardinals have exceeded the expectations of many so far for a team that traded veterans like Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras this past offseason.
Instead of struggling due to their younger roster, the Cardinals are in the thick of the National League Central race nearly two months into the season.
St. Louis enters a stretch of four consecutive series against division opponents starting with the Pirates.
The Cardinals have been able to balance solid production from their lineup, which entered the week ranked seventh in the NL in team OPS (.709), with a starting rotation that entered the week ranked fifth in the NL in ERA (3.88).
It’s presented an interesting question as to how such a team would approach the trade deadline if it remains in contention over the next couple of months. The Cardinals’ upcoming stretch could begin to clear that picture.
“I think the important thing, whether it’s today, tomorrow, a couple of months from now, at any point is just to make sure we’re doing everything we can to stay on track with what we’re trying to build and to look for as many ways as possible to keep building toward what we’re building,” Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom told the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Liberatore is 2-3 with a 5.45 ERA in 10 career appearances (six starts) against the Pirates. He’s coming off a road loss to the Athletics last Wednesday, in which he gave up four runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out five over five innings.
Even reigning Cy Young-winning ace Paul Skenes couldn’t turn the tide for the Pirates as he was roughed up for five runs in five innings in Sunday’s loss.
The Pirates couldn’t figure out Cristopher Sanchez on Saturday or Zach Wheeler on Sunday as their bats went silent following an 11-9 loss in 10 innings Friday.
“We need to find a way to have better at-bats and get some momentum going on offense and find a way to push some runs across because that’s what we’re going to have to do as we go through the season,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said.
Keller experienced a drastic in-game collapse in his most recent start. After retiring the first 12 batters last Wednesday against Colorado, the Rockies tagged Keller for six runs in the fifth inning, including a three-run home run by Mickey Moniak. Keller exited after 5 2/3 innings in a game Pittsburgh eventually lost 10-4.
Keller is 4-4 with a 3.27 ERA in 17 career starts against the Cardinals.
–Field Level Media
