Atlanta @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 4, 2019 ) St. Louis 0, Atlanta 3

The National League Division Series shifts to St. Louis for Game 3 Sunday, as the Cardinals look to take advantage of winning a road game in Atlanta and the Braves hope to carry momentum from tying the series Friday. Facing the prospect of falling behind two games to none, the Braves rebounded from a disheartening series-opening defeat with a 3-0 victory in Game 2, using an Adam Duvall pinch-hit homer to cool off red-hot St. Louis starter Jack Flaherty.

The Braves captured Game 2 thanks to lock-down pitching (starter Mike Foltynewicz, left-hander Max Fried and closer Mark Melancon) that shut out the Cardinals on six hits, one night after Luke Jackson and Melancon combined to surrender six runs on eight hits with two walks. Center fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. is 4-for-8 in the series with two doubles, a homer, two RBIs and a run scored, while Duvall is 2-for-2 as a pinch-hitter for Atlanta, which has trailed in only one inning. St. Louis looks to return to its Game 1 offensive form when it pounded out 14 hits and got two apiece from Tommy Edman, Marcell Ozuna, Paul Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong and Kolten Wong. Ozuna is 4-for-8 through his first two career playoff games with a run scored, two doubles and two RBIs, and Goldschmidt has added three hits, two runs scored and a homer in the series.

TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, TBS

PITCHING MATCHUP: Braves RH Mike Soroka (13-4, 2.68 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Adam Wainwright (14-10, 4.19)

Soroka emerged as one of the best young pitchers in baseball during his rookie season, making 29 starts during an All-Star campaign while finishing second in the majors in homers per nine innings (0.72) and fifth in ERA. The 22-year-old, who makes his playoff debut, was pushed back to Game 3 because of his stellar work on the road: 7-1 with a 1.55 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP and 78 strikeouts with 23 walks in 16 away assignments. Soroka, who pitched to a 4.00 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in five September starts, faced the Cardinals twice in the regular season and went 1-0 with one earned run (two runs total) allowed on eight hits in 13 innings.

Wainwright makes his 25th career postseason appearance (13th start) after a resurgent season in which the 38-year-old finished tied for sixth in the NL in wins and went 5-1 with a 2.97 ERA in September. The Braves first-round draft pick in 2000 who was dealt to St. Louis as a minor leaguer in 2003, Wainwright ended his season by giving up 11 runs on 20 hits (five homers) over 9 1/3 innings across his final two starts, but in his previous 10 outings went 6-2 with a 2.43 ERA and four homers allowed in 59 1/3 innings. Wainwright, who posted a 2.56 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in 16 home starts, allowed five runs with five walks across four innings in a loss to the Braves on May 16 in Atlanta.

WALK-OFFS

1. Fried, who won 17 games this season and now shifts full time to Atlanta’s bullpen with the oblique injury to RHP Chris Martin, has struck out four Cardinals in two scoreless innings in the series.

2. St. Louis 3B Matt Carpenter, who is 1-for-1 in the series with a run-scoring pinch-hit single in Game 1, could start Game 3 as he is 2-for-5 against Soroka.

3. Atlanta tied Houston and the Los Angeles Dodgers for the third-best road record in the majors this season (47-34) and won twice at St. Louis in a three-game series during May.

PREDICTION: Braves 3, Cardinals 2