The St. Louis Cardinals had an impressive series win against the high-powered New York Mets in another soggy series aided by standout defense and a phenomenal pitching performance from Michael McGreevy. The series win was the second straight for the Cardinals as they welcome the bottom dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates to St. Louis.

This time at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals will look for revenge after a disappointing series loss that slipped through the team’s fingers the last time these two met. While the Cardinals will face the same three starters they saw in Pittsburgh, the Pirates will be getting their first look at Miles Mikolas this year.

The big weekend moved the Cardinals (16-19, 4th in NL Central) closer to the .500 mark as the top of the division has been mediocre over the past week or so. The Pirates (12-23, 5th in NL Central) are going the opposite direction, losing four in a row and are 2-8 over their last 10 games.

Game one starter Carmen Mlodzinski (1-3, 6.58 ERA) is looking to get back in the win column after his only victory this year was against the Cardinals in early April. That start stands as Mlodzinski’s best of the year when he went five innings and only gave up one run with a season-high six strikeouts. In his last 13 innings, the long-haired righty has given up 10 runs on 19 hits, including two home runs. Miles Mikolas (1-2, 4.66 ERA) is on a bit of a heater on the mound as he has not allowed a run in his last 11.1 innings of work. He has still had a short leash in his starts so he will need to be effective early on if he wants to work deep into the game.

Paul Skenes (3-3, 2.74 ERA) looked human in his last start against the Cubs, giving up three homers for the first time in his professional career and walked four batters. His worst start prior was against these same Cardinals when he gave up five runs on six hits in six innings of work. Opposing Skenes is Matthew Liberatore (2-3, 3.44 ERA) who was a tough-luck loser in his last appearance but should be fresh for the rematch. Rain shortened the lefty’s start, ending his day after three innings and also halted his streak of five straight games pitching at least six innings. In his first outing against the Pirates, Liberatore also had his worst start of the season, giving up five runs but was undone by a Pirate rally in the seventh inning.

Trying to not sound like a broken record, but game three starter Mitch Keller (1-3, 4.38 ERA) also had his best outing of the season against the Cardinals, throwing 7.1 shutout innings and notching his only win on the year. Since that start, though, Keller has hit rough times giving up 13 runs in his last 22 innings, including five runs in his last outing. Sonny Gray (3-1, 4.12 ERA) looks to right the ship after he was hit hard against the Mets, giving up six runs in 4.1 innings. He gave up nine hits, including three homers, and three walks in that shortened start, but only gave up one run in five innings in his first outing against the Pirates.

NOTES:

• Ivan Herrera is on a rehab assignment but experienced soreness after playing over the weekend.
• Masyn Winn left yesterday’s nightcap with a sprained ankle.
• Even with his strong outing, Michael McGreevy is expected to head back to Memphis. Gordon Graceffo is expected to be recalled to freshen up the bullpen.
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