Pirates at Cardinals
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been a tonic for whatever ails their opponents since the All-Star break, and no team has benefited from their struggles more over that time than the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals set their sights on a second sweep of their National League Central rival in just over two weeks on Sunday, when they host the Pirates in the finale of their three-game series.
St. Louis and Pittsburgh split six meetings during the first half of the season, but the Cardinals have taken full advantage of the Pirates' second-half woes, winning eight of their nine matchups - including seven straight. Tommy Edman delivered the go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning on Saturday while Adam Wainwright and two relievers kept Pittsburgh off the scoreboard following Adam Frazier's leadoff homer en route to a 3-1 victory. The Pirates were only one game below .500 and 2 1/2 out of first place before the All-Star break but have been the worst team in the majors since then, losing 23 of 27 to fall 14 behind the Chicago Cubs. Kevin Newman has enjoyed a solid rookie season offensively with a .302 batting average, but his overthrow of third base on Edman's hit and a bobble on a run-scoring single by Paul DeJong later in the contest played key roles in the setback.
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Pirates LH Steven Brault (3-1, 4.09 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Miles Mikolas (7-12, 3.94)
Brault was perfect through four innings in his return from the injured list Tuesday against Milwaukee but recorded only four more outs, eventually settling for a no-decision after allowing two runs and three hits. The 27-year-old has more than held his own in 10 turns this season, going 2-0 with a 3.35 ERA (1-1, 6.11 in six relief appearances). Jose Martinez is 4-for-8 with a home run versus Brault, who has yielded seven runs over 5 1/3 frames in two games (one start) against the Cardinals in 2019.
After a forgettable first half that saw him go 5-9 with a 4.53 ERA in 18 starts, Mikolas has found the form that made him an All-Star last year over his five second-half turns. The Nova Southeastern product improved to 2-3 with a 2.18 ERA since the All-Star break despite taking the loss in Los Angeles on Tuesday, when he permitted two runs and registered seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings against the Dodgers. Frazier (10-for-28, six extra-base hits) has feasted on Mikolas, who is 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA in four starts versus Pittsburgh this season.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Cardinals are 23-9 in their last 32 home games against the Pirates.
2. Frazier's homer extended Pittsburgh's streak of consecutive games with at least one extra-base hit to 60 - the club's longest since a 75-game run in 2015.
3. St. Louis has not committed an error in a season-best eight consecutive contests and leads the majors with a .989 fielding percentage.