St. Louis @ Pittsburgh preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 16, 2013 ) St. Louis 0, Pittsburgh 0

St. Louis Cardinals rookie right-hander Shelby Miller has been impressive in his brief major-league career, and he credits his catcher for being virtually unhittable in his last start. “I threw everything Yadi (Yadier Molina) called, so that made it easy on me,” Miller said. The 19th overall selection in the 2009 draft, who is 3-0 in eight lifetime appearances, will try to stay perfect when St. Louis visits the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday in the finale of their abbreviated two-game set.

After a lengthy delay, Tuesday's game was postponed because of rain after two innings. First-place St. Louis, which won Monday's series opener 10-6 on the strength of scoring seven runs with two outs in the second inning, leads the major leagues by a wide margin with a .395 average with runners in scoring position. Carlos Beltran is 6-for-9 and Matt Holliday 7-for-11 in that situation with a combined 17 RBIs.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, Fox Sports Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Shelby Miller (2-0, 1.46 ERA) vs. Pirates RH A.J. Burnett (0-2, 3.71)

Miller dominated Milwaukee in his third career start, a 2-0 victory Friday when he allowed one hit and struck out eight in seven innings while throwing 87 of his 113 pitches for strikes. The 22-year-old Houston native allowed two runs, four hits and walked four in 5 1/3 innings in the Cardinals' 6-3 victory at San Francisco on April 6. Miller, who has never faced the Pirates or any of their players, throws a 94 mph fastball, "but his ball has that life,'' manager Mike Matheny said.

Burnett has pitched well enough to win in each of his first three starts, but the Pirates scored a total of one run in his first two outings and blew a two-run lead before beating Cincinnati 6-5 on Friday. Burnett, who has 1,998 career strikeouts, has 27 in 17 innings. Burnett is 5-5 with a 4.33 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in 11 career starts against St. Louis, and 1-2, 8.80, 1.70 in three outings against the Cardinals in 2012. Burnett is 1-8 in his last 12 starts dating to mid-August.

WALK-OFFS

1. St. Louis has scored 79 runs, third-most in the National League behind Colorado and New York.

2. Pirates CF Starling Marte has a nine-game hitting streak and is 18-for-39 with seven RBIs and nine runs scored during that span.

3. Cardinals 1B Matt Adams is 11-for-18 with three homers, eight RBIs and five runs scored in six games.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 3, Pirates 2