Cardinals at Athletics
With their hopes of winning the American League West title fading, the Oakland Athletics remain in the thick of the wild-card race. They hope to climb into the second spot and post their sixth win in seven contests when they host the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday for the finale of their two-game interleague series.
Oakland, which trails Tampa Bay by one-half game for the second wild card, improved to 5-3 on its nine-game homestand by registering an 8-3 victory on Saturday. Chad Pinder belted a pinch-hit, three-run homer and Mark Canha recorded two hits and two RBIs as the Athletics built a 5-0 lead and never looked back. Pinder has gone deep in back-to-back games while Canha is 5-for-8 in his last two contests. Lane Thomas led off the ninth inning on Saturday with a pinch-hit homer for the Cardinals, who have lost four of six and sit one-half game behind the Chicago Cubs for first place in the National League Central but own a one-half game lead atop the NL wild-card standings.
TV: 4:07 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), NBCS California (Oakland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Adam Wainwright (7-7, 4.47 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Tanner Roark (6-7, 4.24)
Wainwright finished July with a 2-0 record in five starts after settling for a no-decision against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, when he gave up one run on five hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings. The 37-year-old Georgian went 1-0 despite struggling in his previous two turns as he surrendered 11 runs and 14 hits over 8 1/3 frames in those outings. Wainwright fell to 2-1 with a 1.14 ERA in three career starts versus Oakland on June 26, when he suffered a hard-luck loss at home after allowing two runs in 6 2/3 innings.
Roark will be making his team debut after being acquired from Cincinnati at Wednesday's trade deadline. The 32-year-old native of Illinois last pitched on Tuesday, when he suffered the loss against Pittsburgh after surrendering five runs on six hits and four walks over 3 1/3 innings. Roark is 2-3 with a 5.45 ERA in nine career games (seven starts) versus St. Louis, including a pair of no-decisions this season in which he allowed three runs over 10 1/3 frames.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cardinals 1B Paul Goldschmidt was named the NL Player of the Month for July after batting .308 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs in 25 games.
2. Oakland activated OF Stephen Piscotty (knee), who went 2-for-3 on Saturday, from the 10-day injured list and claimed C Dustin Garneau off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels while optioning 2B Franklin Barreto and C Beau Taylor to Triple-A Las Vegas.
3. St. Louis activated Marcell Ozuna (finger), who went 1-for-3 on Saturday, and placed fellow OF Tyler O'Neill (wrist) on the 10-day IL.