St. Louis @ Toronto preview
Rogers Centre
Last Meeting ( Jun 22, 2010 ) St. Louis 9, Toronto 4
Chris Carpenter has pitched plenty of games at the Rogers Centre, but he'll be hard-pressed to top what he did the last time he was there.
Carpenter faces the team that drafted him for the second time in his career as leads the St. Louis Cardinals into the second of a three-game interleague series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Cards earned a 9-4 win in the series opener Tuesday night for their third victory in the last four games.
The Jays made Carpenter the fifth overall pick in 1993, the year they last won the World Series. The 6-foot-6 right-hander made 135 starts over six seasons with Toronto before bolting for the Cardinals as a free agent prior to the 2003 season, which he missed due to a torn labrum.
Since joining St. Louis, Carpenter has terrorized National League hitters, amassing a 76-25 record. He's off to another spectacular start this season, owning an 8-1 record while ranking among the NL leaders in ERA (2.83) and strikeouts (88). He's 4-0 over his last seven starts and hasn't lost since May 13.
Carpenter may not have fond memories of his time with the Jays - he went just 49-50 in a Toronto uniform and was removed from the 40-man roster after suffering a shoulder injury at the end of the 2002 season. But his last visit to the Rogers Centre - formerly SkyDome - was one he'll likely remember for the rest of his career.
Making his first appearance in Toronto as a visiting player, Carpenter went the distance on a one-hit shutout, striking out 10 in the Cardinals' 7-0 win over the Jays on June 14, 2005.
He'll face a Jays team that didn't show much in the series-opening loss. The Cardinals belted four homers in the rout, while Jose Bautista provided the lone spark for the home side with a pair of home runs in defeat. That gives him a major league-best 20 on the season while increasing the Jays' total to 108 - also the best in baseball.
Ricky Romero (6-3) will look to put Toronto back in the win column. The left-hander is 1-1 in his previous two interleague encounters, with a loss to the Colorado Rockies on June 11 and a victory over the San Diego Padres five days later.
Romero was at his stingy best against the Padres, allowing an unearned run on five hits over six effective innings. He also had five strikeouts to bring his season total to 96, putting him in a tie for third in the American League.
The 25-year-old has cooled somewhat following a blistering start to the season. He has just two victories in his last six outings, despite surrendering two runs or fewer in four of them.