Braves at Cardinals
Perhaps it’s good the St. Louis Blues are in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in 49 years, because it’s drawing attention away from the struggling St. Louis Cardinals, who host the Atlanta Braves for a three-game series starting Friday having lost 14 of 20 games this month. The Cardinals salvaged a doubleheader split with Wednesday’s 10-3 victory over Kansas City in the nightcap but have surrendered four runs or more five times while going 3-6 in their past nine contests.
One of the few bright spots for St. Louis is left fielder Marcell Ozuna, who has doubled in three straight games and entered Thursday tied for the major-league lead with 45 RBIs after driving in five runs in the doubleheader. The Braves opened a seven-game road trip by taking three of four games at San Francisco following a 5-4, 13-inning victory Thursday during which rookie Austin Riley continued the remarkable start to his major-league career. The 22-year-old outfielder - who is hitting .389 with a 1.254 OPS after going 3-for-6 Thursday - belted a two-run homer in the eighth to tie the game before singling home the game-winning run in the 13th to lift Atlanta to its 10th victory in its past 13 games. Riley became the ninth player in major-league history to hit five homers in his first nine career games, hitting his fifth on his 34th career big-league at-bat.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Southeast (Atlanta), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Braves RH Mike Foltynewicz (0-3, 6.91 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Miles Mikolas (4-4, 4.88)
Foltynewicz took a big step forward Sunday against Milwaukee after a rough first four starts to his season, holding the Brewers to two runs on three hits - a pair of solo homers included - with no walks and three strikeouts in six innings. The 27-year-old pitched to an 8.02 ERA in his opening four appearances, giving up eight homers and 26 hits in 21 1/3 innings after missing the first month of the season with elbow soreness. The final start of that stretch was a 14-3 loss to St. Louis on May 14, in which Foltynewicz surrendered eight runs on seven hits with three homers allowed in 4 2/3 innings.
Mikolas opened May with only three runs allowed across 20 innings in three starts but was hammered for seven runs on nine hits (including two homers) in 1 1/3 innings in a 7-3 loss at Texas last Friday. The 30-year-old, who made the All-Star team while going 18-4 with a 2.83 ERA a season ago after not pitching in the majors since 2014, has limited opponents to three earned runs or fewer seven times in his first 10 starts. Mikolas, who has allowed 10 homers in 55 1/3 innings, is 1-1 with a 1.98 ERA in three career games (two starts) against Atlanta.
WALK-OFFS
1. Atlanta RHP Luke Jackson, who leads the Braves with six saves, threw a season-high 36 pitches to get the win over two scoreless innings Thursday.
2. St. Louis 3B Matt Carpenter is one RBI shy of 500 for his career after driving in two in Wednesday’s nightcap.
3. Braves SS Dansby Swanson went 2-for-6 Thursday, and is hitting .310 with two homers during his current six-game hitting streak.