Cardinals at Brewers
The red-hot St. Louis Cardinals look to post a season-best seventh consecutive win when they visit the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday afternoon for the finale of their three-game series. Yadier Molina went 3-for-3 with two homers in Tuesday's 6-3 triumph as the streaking Cardinals were victorious for the ninth time in 10 contests.
St. Louis has outscored Milwaukee 18-5 while winning the first two games of the set as it maintained its three-game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central and pushed the Brewers 6 1/2 games back. Milwaukee has dropped three straight contests and six of its last nine, with the latest setback dropping it 3 1/2 games behind the Cubs for the NL's second wild-card spot. Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer for the Brewers on Tuesday and Hernan Perez came a foot shy of tying the contest with a three-run shot in the ninth as Dexter Fowler made the game-ending catch in front of the right-field fence. Two hot pitchers square off in St. Louis' Jack Flaherty and Milwaukee's Jordan Lyles (Brewers), but Ryan Braun (6-for-12, three homers) has fared well against the former while Paul Goldschmidt (11-for-23, two homers, six walks) has terrorized the latter.
TV: 2:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Jack Flaherty (8-6, 3.32 ERA) vs. Brewers RH Jordan Lyles (8-8, 4.69)
Flaherty has gone 4-0 with 0.84 ERA over his last five starts and is unbeaten in his last eight turns. The 23-year-old has allowed one run and 14 hits while registering 40 strikeouts over 32 innings during that stretch after working six scoreless frames against Colorado in his last turn. Flaherty has served up six homers in 13 innings while going 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts versus Milwaukee this season and is 2-2 with a 4.79 ERA in eight career outings against the club.
Lyles pitched six hitless innings while defeating Arizona in his last turn and is 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA in five starts since being acquired from Pittsburgh. The 28-year-old was just the third pitcher in franchise history to exit a start with at least six hitless frames, joining Juan Nieves (no-hitter in 1987) and Ben McDonald (six innings in 1997). Lyles is 1-1 with a 7.04 ERA in two starts against St. Louis this season and 1-4 with a 5.35 ERA in 11 career contests (six starts) versus the team.
WALK-OFFS
1. Brewers 3B Mike Moustakas (hand) sat out Tuesday's contest, but X-rays were negative, leading MGR Craig Counsell to believe the valuable power source (31 homers) will return in a matter of days.
2. Four of Molina's seven career multi-homer performances are against the Brewers.
3. Milwaukee RF Christian Yelich went 0-for-3 on Tuesday and has failed to homer or drive in a run in nine straight games.