Cardinals at Brewers
The St. Louis Cardinals have feasted on their division rivals during the second half of the season, turning what appeared to a potentially disappointing campaign into one in which they could become a legitimate threat in the postseason. The Cardinals look to continue their recent dominance of National League Central opponents Tuesday when they visit Milwaukee for the second of three games against the Brewers.
St. Louis was 58-55 and sat 3 1/2 games out of first place in the division following a fifth straight loss on Aug. 7 before sweeping Pittsburgh from Aug. 9-11 to spark a 14-3 run that has the club a season-high 14 games over .500 (72-58) and holding a three-game lead in the Central. The Cardinals improved to 19-6 against the Central since the All-Star break following Monday's 12-2 rout of the Brewers behind three-RBI efforts from Marcell Ozuna, Paul DeJong and Yadier Molina. Milwaukee fell 5 1/2 games off the pace in the division and 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild card with its seventh loss in its last eight contests against St. Louis. Reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich reached base in all four of his plate appearances for the Brewers on Monday, including a pair of singles to lift his batting average for the season against the Cardinals to .372.
TV: 7:40 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Miles Mikolas (7-13, 4.43 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Adrian Houser (6-5, 3.62)
Mikolas has allowed exactly five earned runs in each of his last three starts and is winless in his last five outings, but he avoided falling to 0-4 over the latter stretch when he settled for a no-decision after six innings of work Thursday against Colorado. The 2018 All-Star owns an 8.44 ERA over his last three turns after posting a 2.18 mark over his previous five trips to the mound. Mikolas lost at Milwaukee on Opening Day after yielding five runs in five frames.
Houser will make a second consecutive start against St. Louis after holding the Cardinals to three runs (one earned) and striking out six over 5 1/3 innings in a road win on Wednesday. The 26-year-old has permitted exactly one earned run in each of his last three outings while giving up 11 hits and fanning 20 in 18 1/3 frames over that span. Dexter Fowler (3-for-5) and Paul Goldschmidt (2-for-6) have each homered against Houser, who is 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in two 2019 starts versus the Cardinals.
WALK-OFFS
1. St. Louis rookie 3B Tommy Edman has three hits in each of the last two contests and has accomplished it five times in his last 14 games.
2. After compiling eight homers in his first six games versus the Cardinals this season, Yelich has not hit one against them in the past eight games.
3. DeJong, who finished 1-for-2 with two walks, a home run and three RBIs in the opener, is batting .385 with five homers and 10 RBIs in 14 games versus the Brewers in 2019.