Cardinals at Brewers
The St. Louis Cardinals may wish to entertain the thought of pitching around Christian Yelich, or do a much better job of pitching to him. Right-hander Jack Flaherty will be presented with the daunting task of keeping Yelich in check on Tuesday when the Cardinals continue their three-game series against the host Milwaukee Brewers.
Yelich set career highs in homers (three) and RBIs (seven) in Monday's 10-7 victory, as he followed up a pair of three-run blasts with a solo shot to push his home run total to seven in five contests versus St. Louis this year. The reigning National League Most Valuable Player is a sterling 9-for-16 with 15 RBIs and nine runs scored against the Cardinals this season after recording six homers and 15 RBIs in 16 games versus St. Louis in 2018. Like Yelich, offseason acquisition Paul Goldschmidt also went deep on Monday with a solo shot in the first inning to raise his home run total to five in the season series against Milwaukee. The 31-year-old Goldschmidt is 8-for-19 with nine RBIs this season versus the Brewers heading into Tuesday's tilt with right-hander Brandon Woodruff, against whom he is 1-for-6 in his career.
TV: 7:40 p.m. ET, FS Midwest Plus (St. Louis), FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Jack Flaherty (1-0, 2.93 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Brandon Woodruff (1-1, 6.00)
Flaherty struggled out of the blocks after allowing four runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings of a no-decision against Milwaukee on March 29. The 23-year-old has struggled against both Lorenzo Cain (5-for-12) and Ryan Braun (4-for-7, two homers), although he has thoroughly flustered Travis Shaw (0-for-12, eight strikeouts). Flaherty followed his first start with two strong ones, permitting one run on three hits in six frames of a 7-2 victory versus the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.
Woodruff improved his career mark to 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA against St. Louis after yielding two runs on six hits in five innings of a 4-2 win on March 30. The 26-year-old has taken some lumps from Marcell Ozuna (3-for-7) and Paul DeJong, who has homered among his two hits versus him. Woodruff has allowed four runs in back-to-back outings, with his six-inning performance against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday resulting in his first loss of the season.
WALK-OFFS
1. Milwaukee has won four of five meetings with St. Louis in 2019 and eight of nine dating back to last season.
2. Ozuna, who went deep on Monday, is 8-for-17 with four homers and eight RBIs in his last four games.
3. Brewers 2B-3B Mike Moustakas has four homers in his last seven contests.