Pirates at Cardinals
After a less-than-stellar showing by the rotation during the first half of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals' starting pitchers have been downright stingy coming out of the All-Star break. The Cardinals turn to Jack Flaherty on Tuesday with the hope he becomes the latest hurler to stymie an opponent when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates for the second contest of their three-game series.
Daniel Ponce de Leon, Dakota Hudson and Adam Wainwright led the Cardinals to a series win against Arizona over the weekend, combining to hold the Diamondbacks to three runs and a .149 batting average over 19 innings. Miles Mikolas refused to be outdone by his brethren on Monday, notching his team's first complete game of the season in a 7-0 victory over the Pirates that moved St. Louis within two games of the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs and into a virtual tie with Philadelphia for the second wild card. Tyler O'Neill gave Mikolas all the run support he needed, belting a pair of two-run homers en route to a three-hit performance. Pittsburgh has dropped all four of its contests since the break and hasn't been particularly competitive in the last three, getting outscored 25-7 to fall 5 1/2 games behind the Cubs in the division and 3 1/2 back of the Cardinals and Phillies in the wild-card race.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates RH Dario Agrazal (2-0, 2.81 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Jack Flaherty (4-6, 4.64)
Agrazal has strung together consecutive quality starts and benefited from a ton of run support as Pittsburgh scored a total of 26 times in those outings. The 24-year-old Panamanian recorded the win against Milwaukee on July 6 after permitting two runs - both on solo homers - on five hits and two walks in six frames. Agrazal, who is making his fourth career start, experienced similar success in his last road turn on June 26 as he gave up one run over six innings in a win over Houston.
Flaherty took a no-hitter into the seventh inning but settled for a hard-luck loss at San Francisco on July 7, when Evan Longoria belted a solo homer to account for the only run of the game. The former first-round draft pick hasn't won in his last nine starts, going 0-3 with a 4.93 ERA in part because he has surrendered 12 homers over that span - including at least one in seven straight turns. Josh Bell is 3-for-9 with a blast versus Flaherty, who is 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA in five career starts against Pittsburgh.
WALK-OFFS
1. O’Neill is 6-for-12 with three home runs and nine RBIs in three games since the All-Star break.
2. The Pirates have posted a major league-best .310 team batting average this month.
3. St. Louis is 20-8 over its last 28 home contests against Pittsburgh despite having lost four of the previous six.