St. Louis @ Pittsburgh preview
PNC Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2010 ) St. Louis 2, Pittsburgh 5
It is almost over for the St. Louis Cardinals - and they are playing like they want it to end as soon as possible.
The Pittsburgh Pirates will be looking to put the Cardinals out of their misery when the teams square off again Wednesday.
Primed to make another run at the playoffs, St. Louis was flying high at the beginning of August before the wheels fell right off the cart. The club has failed in the worst way possible, getting thoroughly beaten up by a series of teams that have absolutely no shot at winning anything.
The Cardinals have gone 4-19 against teams with losing records since Aug. 11, falling from one game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds to eight games behind them in the standings. Three of those losses have come against the Pirates - owners of by far the worst record in baseball.
While the pitching has faltered a bit, it is mostly the offense to blame, as St. Louis can’t even seem to hit bad pitching anymore.
Paul Maholm came into Tuesday’s series opener with an 0-6 record and a 7.88 ERA in his previous nine outings but easily dispatched the Cardinals, allowing two runs in seven innings to earn his first win in seven weeks.
Coming off a rare outing in which he did not get completely shelled, the Pirates will hand the ball to Charlie Morton on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old right-hander still owns the worst ERA in baseball among pitchers with at least 60 innings on their resume, but at least it’s under 9.00 now. Morton did not factor in the decision against the New York Mets last week, allowing five hits and two runs while walking four in five innings.
Morton has never beaten the Cardinals, going 0-3 with an 11.70 ERA in three career starts against them. He has surrendered 19 hits while walking 11 in 10 total innings against St. Louis.
The Cardinals will counter with right-hander Kyle Lohse, who is in the midst of his first winning streak of the season.
The 31-year-old has not lasted more than 5 1/3 innings in any of his six starts since coming off the disabled list and gave up a combined 16 hits in 10 1/3 innings over his last two outings, but he managed to limit the damage to five total runs in picking up back-to-back victories.
Lohse earned a win against the Pirates back on Aug. 23, allowing two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings while striking out four. He has never lost to Pittsburgh in his career, owning a 5-0 record with a 2.26 ERA in eight games - seven starts.