Cardinals at Rockies
The St. Louis Cardinals are pulling away in the National League Central and are trying to take advantage of a soft spot in the schedule before a closing stretch that will see them play 16 straight against teams with winning records. The Cardinals will try to get started on a seventh consecutive series win when they visit the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game set on Tuesday.
St. Louis, which owns a four-game lead over the Cubs in the NL Central but still has seven contests left against the club, took two of three from Pittsburgh over the weekend and is thriving on the mound with a total of two runs allowed in its last five wins. The Cardinals have not lost a series since getting swept at the Los Angeles Dodgers from Aug. 5-7 and are 23-7 over the last 30 games to lift themselves out of the scrum in the NL race. The Rockies sit in last place in the NL West and were swept in a four-game series at St. Louis last month to begin a lengthy slide that has seen them drop 17 of their last 20 games. Colorado will try to snap its latest slide with right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez on the mound while St. Louis counters with righty Michael Wacha.
TV: 8:40 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Colorado)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (6-6, 4.98 ERA) vs. Rockies RH Chi Chi Gonzalez (0-6, 7.29)
Wacha was pushed up to start on three days of rest against San Francisco on Wednesday and yielded two hits in two scoreless innings. The Texas A&M product was impressive in his last full start, holding Cincinnati to two runs - both on solo homers - and three hits in seven innings Aug. 31. Wacha did not stick around long enough to qualify for a win against Colorado on Aug. 25, when he surrendered three runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Gonzalez is still looking for his first win of the season but turned in a quality start at Los Angeles last Tuesday, when he held the Dodgers to two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings without factoring in the decision. That represented a strong bounce back for the 27-year-old, who was ripped for seven runs and seven hits in two-thirds of an inning against Pittsburgh in his previous turn. Gonzalez did not have much success at St. Louis on Aug. 24, when he was charged with five runs in 4 1/3 innings and absorbed a loss.
WALK-OFFS
1. Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado is 0-for-6 in the last two games after hitting safely in 12 straight.
2. Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez is enjoying a string of eight straight scoreless appearances, totaling 8 1/3 innings.
3. St. Louis C Yadier Molina went 0-for-3 on Sunday, snapping a streak of 14 straight starts in which he recorded at least one hit.