Cubs at Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals own their first three-game winning streak in over a month and can lock down their first series sweep since April 22-24 when they conclude their three-game set against the visiting Chicago Cubs on Sunday. After taking the series opener in walk-off fashion, the Cardinals waited out a rain delay of over three hours on Saturday before scoring three times in the sixth inning en route to a 7-4 win.
Dexter Fowler singled and scored during that rally and added a homer in the eighth as St. Louis opened June with a victory following a 9-18 effort last month. Marcell Ozuna, who was one of the few Cardinals to perform well in May as he finished with 22 RBIs, recorded three hits and drove in a run in Saturday's win. He and his teammates will take aim at Cole Hamels, who starts the series finale for the Cubs looking to break out of a personal slump. Chicago, which sits in second place in the National League Central for the first time in nearly a month after falling for the seventh time in nine games, will face Adam Wainwright.
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, MLB Network, WGN (Chicago), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cubs LH Cole Hamels (4-1, 4.02 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Adam Wainwright (4-5, 4.94)
Hamels has completed just four innings in each of his last two starts, including a loss in Houston last time out, while giving up nine runs and 16 hits in those contests. He has issued six walks and registered six strikeouts in that span, with his 3.7 free passes per nine innings representing what would be a career high. Ozuna is 9-for-32 with three home runs against Hamels while Matt Carpenter has gone 5-for-15 with three walks.
Wainwright recorded a season-high 10 strikeouts Tuesday at Philadelphia but was saddled with the loss after giving up four runs in six innings. He posted a 6.33 ERA in five starts last month, which began with an outing at Chicago in which he surrendered a season-high six runs over five frames. The 37-year-old, who is 9 2/3 innings shy of 2,000 for his career, is 15-11 with a 4.16 ERA lifetime versus the Cubs.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cardinals 1B Paul Goldschmidt has gone 8-for-18 with two homers during his five-game hitting streak.
2. Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo went deep in Saturday's loss, giving him five home runs in his last 10 contests.
3. St. Louis RHP Carlos Martinez worked a perfect ninth inning on Saturday to pick up his first save of the year.