Pittsburgh @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 27, 2010 ) Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 6
The St. Louis Cardinals barely have a heartbeat. Jeff Suppan may be on his last legs as well.
Suppan takes the mound on Tuesday night as St. Louis tries to stay alive in the playoff race in the second of a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Cardinals’ 6-4 victory on Monday kept the Cincinnati Reds' magic number for clinching the NL Central at one. The Reds need just one more win or St. Louis loss to clinch the title in a division that the Cardinals have won four of the last six seasons.
Matt Holliday homered and drove in three runs on Monday and Albert Pujols drove in his major league-leading 117th run as the Cards rallied to victory.
Suppan (2-7, 5.40 ERA) will try to do his part to keep St. Louis' hopes alive against a Pittsburgh club that he has dominated throughout his career.
The veteran hurler defeated Pittsburgh, 9-2, on Thursday, yielding just one run and four hits in five frames. He also tossed 5 1/3 scoreless frames in an 11-1 drubbing on July 31 to improve to 16-3 all-time against the Bucs.
Suppan, who won 10 games with Pittsburgh in 2003 before being traded to the Boston Red Sox to help with their playoff push, has four more wins against Pittsburgh than any other club.
Suppan has compiled a 137-142 record with an ERA of 4.70 with six different teams over a fulfilling 16-year career. He posted nine double-digit win seasons from 1999-2008 and had his best seasons in his first stint with St. Louis from 2004-06.
The right-hander was 44-26, including back-to-back 16-win campaigns, won a World Series in 2005 and NLCS MVP in 2006.
Suppan signed a lucrative free agent deal with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007 and went 22-22 with a 4.78 ERA in his first two seasons. He began the 2010 campaign with Milwaukee, but was released on June 7 after going 0-2 with a 7.84 ERA in 15 games and just two starts.
St. Louis re-signed the 35-year-old on July 14, and he has gone 2-5 with a 4.12 ERA in 13 games – 11 starts – for the Cards.
Pirates starter Brian Burres (3-4, 4.93 ERA) will start against the Cardinals and Suppan for the second time in a week.
Burres was roughed up for four runs and six hits in 2 1/3 on Thursday after yielding just four earned runs in 20 innings in his last three starts.
The left-hander started the season in Pittsburgh, was shipped to Triple-A Indianapolis in June and returned to the Bucs in late August. He was 5-4 with a 4.50 ERA in 15 games – 14 starts in the minors.
Red-hot rookie Pedro Alvarez will try to provide Pittsburgh a boost at Busch. Alvarez homered and had his second straight three-hit game on Monday. Overall, the NL Player of the Week is riding a seven-game hitting streak.
The Cardinals lead the series, 8-5, and Pittsburgh is a major league-worst 15-60 away from PNC Park.