St. Louis @ Arizona preview
Chase Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 12, 2010 ) St. Louis 2, Arizona 7
It appears as though all the concern over Chris Carpenter at the beginning of the season was unfounded.
Carpenter will be looking to keep rolling along when the St. Louis Cardinals wrap up a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
Since Carpenter joined the Cardinals prior to the 2004 season, he has been one of the best pitchers in the game when he is healthy and something much less than that when he is ailing.
So when the 35-year-old, who has had two major surgeries on his arm in his career, allowed seven runs - five earned - and seven hits in five innings during his second start of the season, people in St. Louis were understandably concerned.
But Carpenter bounced back with seven innings and 10 strikeouts in each of his next two starts and now looks just like the pitcher who won the Cy Young Award in 2005 and battled for the honor again last season.
His last three starts have been outstanding, with the right-hander allowing a total of two earned runs and two walks in 21 2/3 innings.
The New Hampshire native faced the Diamondbacks back on April 21, allowing three runs and six hits in seven innings while striking out 10 in a no-decision. In his career, Carpenter is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA in nine games - eight starts - against Arizona.
A healthy Carpenter is key for St. Louis, which planned on riding its starting pitching and the bat of Albert Pujols back to the playoffs this season.
Pujols’ bat has been silent of late, with an 0-for-3 day on Saturday dropping his batting average to .296, marking just the fifth day this season and the seventh in the last two seasons that he has finished a day below .300.
His slump has coincided with that of the Cardinals, who have dropped five of six with Pujols going 3-for-21. St. Louis won the first game of the series on Friday but dropped Saturday’s contest 7-2. Adam LaRoche homered twice for Arizona while Mark Reynolds added his 15th homer of the season.
The Diamondbacks will send the enigmatic Edwin Jackson to the mound in the finale. The 26-year-old right-hander has either been brilliant or terrible this season, with three scoreless starts against a 7.42 ERA in his other 10 outings.
After allowing three hits in nine scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 2, Jackson followed it up by yielding nine hits and four runs in six innings against Atlanta on Tuesday.
Jackson lasted eight innings against the Cardinals back on April 21 but allowed four runs on seven hits, including a two-run homer by Colby Rasmus.