St. Louis @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 31, 2010 ) St. Louis 0, Houston 3
It just keeps getting worse and worse for the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals will be looking to avoid a sweep when they close out a three-game series against the Houston Astros on Wednesday.
With its division hopes all but over and the wild card fading away, St. Louis has suddenly forgotten how to score runs.
Two straight 3-0 losses to the Astros have dropped the Cardinals a full seven games behind the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central and four games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild card race with just 31 games remaining on the schedule.
It was only three weeks ago that St. Louis was leading the division after a three-game sweep of the Reds, but series losses against sub-.500 teams Chicago, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Washington and now Houston have plummeted the team.
While the pitching has stepped back up after a lull last week, the bats seem to have stopped working over the last four games - all losses.
Meanwhile, the Astros seem determined to close out the season strong after owning one of the worst records in the majors for much of the first half. Houston has won eight of its last 10 and has been getting very strong starting pitching, with a 2.16 ERA over the last 22 games.
The Cardinals will be looking to coax a solid start out of Jeff Suppan when he is activated from the disabled list for today’s start. The struggling veteran earned his first win of the season on July 31 before being placed on the DL the next day with a strained right groin.
He dominated the Pittsburgh Pirates in that outing, allowing five hits and striking out five in 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
Suppan is coming to the end of his worst season in the majors and only a strong finish in September could keep it from being the final season of his career. Now 35 years old, the right-hander has watched his ERA and WHIP rise in every season since 2005.
One of his losses this season came at Houston on July 10, when Suppan was knocked around for four runs and seven hits while walking three in 4 2/3 innings. He has never had much success at Minute Maid Park, going 1-3 with a 6.07 ERA in eight starts.
The Astros will counter with the surprising Nelson Figueroa. Claimed off waivers on July 21, the right-hander has made three starts for Houston, posting a 1.50 ERA. He lasted a season-high seven innings at New York last week, surrendering one earned run on three hits, though he did not factor in the decision.
Figueroa has worked mostly as a reliever in his career and has faced the Cardinals 12 times - four starts - with a 2-1 record and a 4.14 ERA. He worked twice out of the bullpen against St. Louis earlier this month, allowing one run and three hits in four total innings.