Cardinals at Braves
Mike Shildt continues to preach patience, but the St. Louis Cardinals manager knows his team must play better starting with Tuesday’s opening game of a six-game road trip at the Atlanta Braves. The Cardinals have lost nine of their past 11 games to sink to fourth place in the National League Central after Sunday’s 10-6 home loss to Pittsburgh, are hitting .238 in that stretch while scoring one run or fewer six times, and have allowed 10 or more runs on three occasions.
“I can confidently tell this is a group that I have zero doubt about,” Shildt told reporters after Sunday’s loss, which dropped St. Louis to 22-19 on the season. “It is an ebb and flow of the season. Don’t want to overreact, and don’t want to underreact.” Atlanta faced a difficult 10-game road swing that featured a four-game losing streak, but the Braves rallied with three victories in a row to close out a four-game series at Arizona. Atlanta was off Monday, its first off day after 20 games in 20 days, and its starting pitchers finished the road trip with a 3.80 ERA with five quality starts. “We limited damage, guys made pitches, made plays,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told the media following Sunday’s 5-3 victory that raised his team’s record to 21-20. “It just shows, the whole series, they were a hit or two away each game from just blowing the game open and, fortunately, our guys made pitches and plays.”
TV: 7:20 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Southeast (Atlanta)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Jack Flaherty (3-3, 4.32 ERA) vs. Braves RH Mike Foltynewicz (0-2, 5.94)
Flaherty, who finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting last season, has struggled in three road starts, going 0-2 with an 8.53 ERA, four homers and six walks in 12 2/3 innings. The 23-year-old lost at home Wednesday against Pittsburgh, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits in five innings of a 5-0 defeat – his second start in a row in which St. Louis was shut out. Flaherty made one start against Atlanta last season, allowing five runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings to take the loss.
It has been a rough start for Foltynewicz, who missed the first month of the season with elbow soreness and has allowed five homers and 15 runs in 16 2/3 innings across three big-league outings. The 27-year-old took the loss Wednesday at the Dodgers, surrendering five runs on five hits with four walks and two homers allowed in six innings. Foltynewicz, who has yet to hold an opponent to fewer than four runs, is 2-3 with an 8.06 ERA in five career starts against St. Louis.
WALK-OFFS
1. Atlanta OF Ronald Acuna Jr. is 6-for-21 with two homers during his current five-game hitting streak, and in 151 career games has 34 homers, 87 RBIs and a .901 OPS.
2. St. Louis 1B Paul Goldschmidt homered in the first inning Sunday, snapping an 18-game drought and giving him his first longball of the season against a left-handed pitcher.
3. Braves SS Dansby Swanson has reached base in 15 consecutive games, hitting .298 with four RBIs, three doubles and a .761 OPS in that span.