St. Louis @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( May 26, 2010 ) St. Louis 1, San Diego 2
St. Louis’ starting pitching depth is being tested with Brad Penny on the disabled list and Kyle Lohse (forearm) expected to miss at least one start. So enter P.J. Walters as a possible short-term solution.
Walters will make his first start of this season and the second of his major league career today when the Cardinals finish a three-game series against the San Diego Padres.
Walters, a 25-year-old right-hander, will be asked to keep the Cardinals from being swept by the Padres, who have the best record (28-18) in the National League.
His only outing this season came in relief against the Los Angeles Angels last Saturday when he gave up two runs and three hits in four innings.
Walters made eight appearances for the Cardinals last season and was often roughed up. He gave up six homers in just 16 innings of work while posting a 9.56 earned-run average.
But with Penny sidelined with a back muscle injury, Walters gets the call against the Padres, who have used stellar pitching to frustrate the Cardinals over the past two games.
San Diego also received power heroics from a player not accustomed to hitting the long ball in Jerry Hairston Jr.
The veteran utilityman didn’t homer in his first 38 games of this season but hit game-winning homers in each of the first two games of the series.
Hairston hit a second-inning homer during Tuesday’s 1-0 victory against Adam Wainwright and belted the decisive 13th-inning homer in Wednesday’s 2-1 victory.
Hairston was in the lineup at shortstop both nights because regular shortstop Everth Cabrera is out with a hamstring injury.
San Diego starter Wade LeBlanc will be looking to bounce back from a horrible outing against Seattle that saw his ERA more than double from 1.54 to 3.32.
LeBlanc (2-2) gave up eight runs and six hits in three innings and allowed his first two homers of the season in a game the Padres lost 15-8.
LeBlanc hasn’t won in four May starts, with his last victory occurring on April 29. The outing against the Mariners marked the first time he gave up more than two earned runs in any game this season.
LeBlanc and the Padres will be aiming to keep Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols in check for one last game in the series. Pujols went 0-for-4 on Wednesday night and now has gone 11 consecutive games without an RBI. Pujols has just one home run in the month of May.
The player following Pujols in the order, left fielder Matt Holliday, is 0-for-9 in the series against the Padres. Holliday stranded five runners in Wednesday’s 13-inning contest.