Cardinals at Rangers
St. Louis defeated Texas to win the 2011 World Series but has lost seven straight less-important meetings since as the Cardinals visit the Rangers on Saturday in the second contest of their three-game set. Texas rolled to a 7-3 victory in Friday's series opener and is 8-2 versus St. Louis in the regular season since interleague play began in 1997.
The Rangers (20-22) continue to feast on Missouri pitching, jumping the Cardinals' Miles Mikolas for seven runs in the second inning after crushing Kansas City 16-1 on Thursday and scoring 27 runs in the three-game series with the Royals. Texas second baseman Rougned Odor (.170) continues to battle his way out of a prolonged slump to start the season as he homered for the second straight game Friday and is 4-for-9 with three blasts in his last two contests. The Cardinals have lost 12 of their last 15 games, including seven of eight on the road, and are 4-12 in May after going 19-10 in March/April. St. Louis' Dakota Hudson takes the ball Saturday after allowing three or fewer earned runs in his last five starts and opposes Ariel Jurado, who makes his first start of the season.
TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Southwest (Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Dakota Hudson (2-3, 4.61 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Ariel Jurado (1-1, 1.50)
Hudson received a no-decision after yielding three runs and a career-high nine hits over six innings of St. Louis' 10-6 loss to Pittsburgh last Sunday. The 24-year-old Tennessee native, who chopped 1.47 off his ERA over his last five starts, has permitted 53 hits and 20 walks over 41 innings with a 1.78 WHIP and .310 batting average against. Hudson, who has never faced the Rangers, was selected by Texas in the 36th round in 2013 but he attended Mississippi State instead of signing.
Jurado didn't allow an earned run in his first seven relief appearances this season before yielding two in a season-high 2 1/3 innings on 33 pitches at Kansas City on Tuesday, so he may be limited Saturday. The 23-year-old Panamanian has permitted 11 hits and one walk over 12 frames this season with a high pitch count of 34, although he totaled 30 and 31 in his two appearances prior to Tuesday. Jurado is 3-4 with a 5.71 ERA in eight career starts - all last season.
WALK-OFFS
1. St. Louis designated hitters are the all-time leaders among National League teams in interleague play with a .301 average after Jose Martinez went 2-for-4 on Friday.
2. Texas INF Logan Forsythe (.321) went 1-for-3 on Friday, snapping a four-game multi-hit streak.
3. The Cardinals activated RHP Carlos Martinez (shoulder) from the disabled list and he could make his season debut in relief this weekend. To make room for Martinez, RHP Luke Gregerson was designated for assignment.