St. Louis @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( Jun 29, 2011 ) St. Louis 5, Baltimore 1
THE STORY: If Colby Rasmus can stay hot, and David Freese and Nick Punto can continue to make some contributions on offense, perhaps the St. Louis Cardinals will be able to stay in the race with Albert Pujols on the shelf. The Cardinals spent most of June in a prolonged slump but have come out of it over the last two days with the help of the Baltimore Orioles’ pitching staff, which continues to takes its lumps as young starters deal with inconsistency. The Orioles with be looking to avoid a sweep of the three-game series when they host St. Louis in the finale Thursday night.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), MASN (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles LH Brian Matusz (1-3, 6.85 ERA) vs. Cardinals LH Jaime Garcia (6-3, 3.06). Matusz spent the first two months of the season on the disabled list and has not had the same type of velocity he displayed in 2010 since his return. Topping out at 90 mph in five starts this month, the 24-year old has gotten lit up in three straight outings, including six runs in 4 2/3 innings to suffer a loss to Cincinnati over the weekend. Matusz has never won in interleague play, posting an 0-4 mark with a 5.93 ERA in five starts. Garcia was let down by his defense last time out, allowing four unearned runs in seven innings to suffer a loss against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mexican lefthander has had most of his struggles on the road in 2011, posting a 5.36 ERA in nine games away from Busch Stadium. Garcia has yet to beat an American League club in three tries this season and owns a 1-3 record with a 4.45 ERA in six career interleague turns.
ABOUT THE ORIOLES (35-42): Baltimore has dropped five of its last seven games, falling behind regularly as the starting rotation struggles to find a groove. Youngsters Zach Britton and Matusz were joined in the losing column by Chris Jakubauskas on Wednesday as the righthander failed to make it through six innings for the fifth time in as many starts. A positive has been the offensive display from J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis, who each had two hits Wednesday and have each posted six multi-hit games in the last eight.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS (43-38): When St. Louis arrived in Baltimore, it had dropped 12 of its last 15 games, including three straight over the weekend at home to the Toronto Blue Jays. But a few things have changed in the past two days, the first being that Freese and Punto were activated from the disabled list and have added some length to the lineup. The second is that Rasmus, who was mired in a 19-for-109 slump through most of the month, has come alive, hitting in each of the last six games and belting three homers in the last five. Most importantly, the Cardinals have gotten two straight strong efforts from starters Kyle Lohse and Chris Carpenter, who have combined to allow one run in 14 innings over the first two games against Baltimore.
FINAL PITCH: The Cardinals on Wednesday released former All-Star righthander Ryan Franklin. The 38-year old had posted an 8.46 ERA with 44 hits allowed in 27 2/3 innings this season and had been even worse lately, surrendering nine runs in his last four appearances. The last straw came Tuesday, when he recorded only one out in yielding two runs and three hits.