Rockies at Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals look for a third straight scoreless outing from their starting pitcher when they send Michael Wacha to the mound Sunday afternoon as they go for a four-game sweep of the visiting Colorado Rockies. The Cardinals extended their lead in the National League Central to 1 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs after Dakota Hudson tossed six scoreless frames in a 6-0 victory Saturday.
Paul Goldschmidt is 5-for-12 in the series after launching a solo homer in Saturday’s victory, moving within one of reaching 30 for the fifth time in seven years, and teammate Marcell Ozuna is 9-for-17 during a five-game hitting streak with seven RBIs in the past three. Wacha tries to keep the run going for St. Louis, which has won 12 of its last 15 contests, while the Rockies are expected to hand the ball to fellow right-hander Antonio Senzatela after he is recalled from the minors. Colorado has dropped five of its last six games and is just 9-for-61 at the plate in the last two after leading the majors with a .295 batting average in August through Thursday’s contests. Trevor Story returned the lineup Saturday after a day off and is 29-for-78 with seven doubles and six homers in August for the Rockies, who are mired in last place in the NL West.
TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Antonio Senzatela (8-7, 6.29 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (6-6, 5.22)
Senzatela returns to the majors for the first time since last month when he allowed 21 runs on 21 hits across 11 innings in three straight rough starts. Goldschmidt is 3-for-13 with a homer and a double against the 24-year-old Venezuelan, who is 1-2 with a 4.84 ERA in four career starts versus the Cardinals. Senzatela, who had a career-best 10 wins with the Rockies in 2017, was 1-1 with a 5.77 ERA in seven starts with Triple-A Albuquerque.
Wacha is winless in his last five outings after allowing three hits and a walk over four scoreless innings before getting pulled versus Milwaukee on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Texas A&M product has given up 10 runs on 24 hits across 20 1/3 innings during his winless stretch without completing more than five frames. Charlie Blackmon is 5-for-14 with an RBI against Wacha, who is 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA at home this year and 1-1 with a 5.18 mark lifetime versus Colorado.
WALK-OFFS
1. Blackmon is just 1-for-12 in the series but is batting .333 this month with six homers and 10 RBIs.
2. St. Louis C Yadier Molina needs two RBIs to reach 900 in his career and two walks for 500.
3. The Rockies have lost six of the last seven against the Cardinals, whom they host on Sept. 10-12.