The St. Louis Cardinals need a series win and fast after losing two out of three games to the Atlanta Braves to end a miserable road trip. After a four game sweep at the hands of the Mets, the Cardinals bullpen was to blame for the losses in Atlanta. The trip against two quality NL East opponents took all positive momentum from the Cardinals, who had won four of their previous six games. The most recent loss took a lot out of the Cardinals and manager Oli Marmol voiced his frustration with the lack of support he has received on the bullpen front.

The Cardinals (10-15, T-4th in NL Central) will be happy to return to Busch after the seven-game roadtrip where they currently have an 8-4 record. The Brewers (13-13, 2nd in NL Central), are coming off a disappointing series loss of their own against the San Francisco Giants. After losing the rubber game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy held a closed-door meeting in an attempt to right the ship in Milwaukee.

The series starts with lefty Matthew Liberatore (1-2, 3.60 ERA) toeing the rubber. Since his move to the rotation, has thrown at least six innings in all four of his starts and has only walked two hitters in his 25 innings. The Brewers will send Chad Patrick (1-1, 2.11 ERA) to face the St. Louis offense. The 26-year-old is coming off a tough-luck loss of his own after giving up two runs over six innings against the Athletics.

In game two, staff ace Sonny Gray (3-0, 3.41 ERA) will look to keep his nice stretch going. Over his past three starts, Gray has a 2.00 ERA and has struck out 14 batters in 18 innings of work. Opposing Gray will be former highly-regarded prospect Quinn Priester (1-0, 1.93 ERA), who the Brewers received in an early April trade with the Red Sox. In 14 innings this year, Priester has walked nine batters but has limited the big innings to keep his ERA below two.

Sunday’s matinee has Erick Fedde (1-2, 3.33 ERA) taking the mound for the Cardinals. As was the case with his previous outing, Fedde had to settle for a no-decision after his third quality start of the season. St. Louis will take on former friend and rival Jose Quintana (3-0, 0.96 ERA), who was signed late in Spring Training but is already making the deal look like a steal. In three starts with Milwaukee, Quintana has covered 18.2 innings and only allowed two runs. He has allowed 14 hits and five walks, though, so his luck could be running out.

NOTES:

• The Cardinals are 2-11 on the road compared to 8-4 at Busch Stadium.
• This is the second series against an NL Central opponent for the Cardinals. In their first series, they lost two out of three games to the Pirates.
• Brendan Donovan is expected back after missing a few days with a rib subluxation.
• Ivan Herrera is hoping to go on a rehab assignment in the coming days.
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