Cincinnati @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jul 17, 2011 ) St. Louis 1, Cincinnati 3
THE STORY: Although some baseball analysts had them left for dead just two weeks ago, the St. Louis Cardinals are showing signs of life in the National League Central. Tony La Russa's club capped a three-game sweep of the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday with an 8-4 triumph. Albert Pujols led the way with a grand slam and a solo shot to pace St. Louis, which has won six of its last seven to pull within 7 1/2 games of Milwaukee. The Cardinals will look to keep the good times rolling when they open a three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds. After being swept at home by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Reds will open a nine-game road trip in the Gateway City.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, FSOH (Cincinnati), FSMW (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Reds RH Johnny Cueto (9-5, 2.05 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Chris Carpenter (8-9, 3.76 ERA)
Cueto clearly deserved better than a no-decision in his last trip to the mound. The National League's ERA leader yielded just two runs and struck out a career-high 11 in seven innings, but was left without a decision on Sunday against the Washington Nationals. Cueto, 25, has split eight career decisions against the Cardinals, including two this season.
Carpenter struggled mightily in his latest trip to the mound, permitting six runs on nine hits in five innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday. The 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner has defeated the Reds on three occasions this season. On July 4, Carpenter scattered six hits over eight scoreless innings to keep Cincinnati at bay.
ABOUT THE REDS (67-70): Chris Heisey provided quite the punch in his return from the disabled list following a strained left oblique. Heisey belted a pinch-hit, opposite-field three-run homer in the seventh inning, but the Phillies completed the four-game sweep of the Reds with a 6-4 triumph on Thursday. The pinch-hit homer was Heisey's second and Cincinnati's seventh this season. One day after seeing his 13-game hitting streak come to an end, Brandon Phillips led off Thursday's contest with a single. Phillips has struggled versus Carpenter, collecting just seven hits in 48 career at-bats (.146). Conversely, reigning NL MVP Joey Votto is 13-for-32 (.406) in his career against Carpenter - including a 6-for-12 effort this season.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS (73-64): Rafael Furcal has been getting St. Louis off on the right foot lately. For the second straight day, Furcal led off the game with a homer. Speaking of home runs, well, Pujols' name naturally comes to mind. After belting his NL-leading 33rd homer in the first inning, Pujols then launched his 12th career grand slam in the third. The three-time league MVP now has three homers in his last two days. Pujols has struggled against Cueto, going 5-for-23 without going deep in his career. Conversely, Matt Holliday is 7-for-18 in his career versus the hurler. Holliday was not going to be left out of the home run party as he went deep for the 20th time this season and 200th time in his career.
FINAL PITCH: "It was nice - 200 home runs is a pretty good mark. It’s nice to get it out of the way." - Holliday.