The St. Louis Cardinals aim to get back in the playoff race as they host the Nationals.
The St. Louis Cardinals keep making us believe only to snap us back to reality quickly thereafter. An amazing May and strong second half of June put the Cardinals in striking distance in the NL Central while also holding onto the final Wild Card spot. However, an embarrassing three-game sweep at the hands of the Pirates and two more terrible pitching performances against the Cubs put the Cardinals back on the outside of the race.
With two more series until the All-Star break, the Cardinals look to get back on track and force John Mozeliak to make some difficult decisions at the Trade Deadline. Mo recently stated that the team could look to add at the deadline and ownership would be on board with a little payroll expansion, but St. Louis will have to get on a major hot streak to make that happen. This upcoming series could provide that first launching point as the Cardinals return home to face the Washington Nationals.
The Nationals are struggling in their own right and just fired their GM and manager as they sit in last place in the NL East despite an exciting crop of young players. Former Cardinals Miguel Cairo will move from bench coach to interim manager for the Nats, a role he had previously filled with the White Sox. Hopefully, the turmoil the organization is going through will bring them to Busch Stadium in shambles and the Cardinals can take care of business and sweep the Nationals for the second time this season.
Series Preview: Nationals @ Cardinals 7/8 – 7/10
GAME ONE 6:45pm: Jake Irvin (7-3, 4.71 ERA) vs. Sonny Gray (8-3, 3.51 ERA)
Late last night, Katie Woo and others reported that the Cardinals rotation was going through a little bit of a shuffle but it was not the personnel change that fans were hoping for. Woo noted that Cardinals ace Sonny Gray was moved up a day to start the first game of the Nationals series to give him the opportunity to start twice this week. Gray has been solid his last few times out and his stat line from his last start does not tell the full story as two runs scored when a reliever was brought in. Over his last seven starts, the veteran is 3-2 with a 2.86 ERA, covering 44 innings. Over that span, he has struck out 46 batters and only walked 5, a welcomed change from the backend of the rotation.
The Nationals will send right-hander Jake Irvin to the mound, who is going the opposite direction as Gray despite the 7-3 record. Irvin has given up at least three earned runs in six of his last seven starts with a 28-to-14 strikeout to walk ratio while allowing 10 homers over that span. He has pitched two games against the Cardinals in his career and is 1-0 in 8.1 innings, allowing six runs on 10 hits and two homers.
GAME TWO 6:45pm: MacKenzie Gore (3-8, 3.11 ERA) vs. Andre Pallante (5-4, 4.10 ERA)
Taking the mound at Busch in game two is Andre Pallante, who has settled into his mid-rotation role after an up-and-down season thus far. Over his last three outings, Pallante has given up just two runs in 18 innings including seven shutout innings against the Pirates last time out. Unfortunately, the Cardinals faced Paul Skenes that day and were unable to score a single run to back the great start by Pallante.
Offense may be an issue again for the Cardinals as they face All-Star lefty MacKenzie Gore. The last two lefty starters the Cardinals faced were Andrew Heaney, who flirted with a no-hitter and began the Cardinals scoreless streak as their struggles against lefties continue, and then followed up by getting beat by Matthew Boyd. Despite the eight losses, Gore has been spectacular this season with 131 strikeouts in 104.1 innings and is just 1-3 over his last seven starts while putting up a 2.57 ERA. The Cardinals have done well against Gore in his career as he is 0-2 with an 8.57 ERA in 21 innings against St. Louis. In his start against the Cardinals this season, Gore took the loss after allowing four earned runs over 6.1 innings.
GAME THREE 6:45pm: Michael Soroka (3-6, 5.40 ERA) vs. Miles Mikolas (4-6, 5.26 ERA)
Miles Mikolas and his no-trade clause will be sent back out to the mound in the series finale on Thursday as he tries to not only eat innings, but eat quality innings this time out. In his last start, Mikolas was another Cardinals pitcher to make history on an Apple TV+ broadcast, but unfortunately it was due to the fact he gave up six homers in his first three innings. While he managed to save the bullpen with his six innings of work that day, Mikolas has been plain bad since June. He went into the month with a 3.90 ERA but he has seen that number skyrocket to 5.26 after giving up 27 earned runs on 12 homers over his last 32 innings. He has allowed just four walks but has given up 44 hits over that stretch.
Michael Soroka heads to St. Louis looking to forget his last start against the Red Sox where he allowed seven runs and get back to his strong June stuff. In June, Soroka put up a 3.49 ERA and struck out 36 batters in 28.1 innings and has a career high 9.95 K/9 so far this season. He is also doing a nice job limiting walks as he is putting together his best season since he went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA while pitching with the Braves in 2019. This will be Soroka’s first outing against the Cardinals since 2023 and he is 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA against S. Louis in his career.
NOTES
- Brendan Donovan was named the Cardinals lone All-Star
- The Cardinals are hitting just .211 as a team in July and have struck out 42 times in five games.
- Willson Contreras has been the team’s best hitter over the past 15 games and is the only one hitting over .300 in that span.
- Nolan Gorman has an .848 OPS and seven homers over his last 30 games.
- Jordan Walker is rehabbing in Springfield and Ivan Herrera could be starting his rehab assignment this week.