Cardinals Look to Make a Statement with Sweep of Dodgers
The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Look to Make a Statement with Sweep of Dodgers
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
The St. Louis Cardinals have already done enough this weekend to get people’s attention.
Now they have a chance to do something more.
After taking the first two games from the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals will go for the series sweep Sunday afternoon behind right-hander Dustin May, who will face his former club in one of the more interesting early-season matchups on the schedule.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. CT at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals enter the day at 20-13, winners of six consecutive games and one game behind the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. The Dodgers also come in at 20-13, still sitting atop the NL West but trying to stop a four-game losing streak and salvage the final game of a weekend that has belonged to St. Louis.
That sentence alone tells you how much has changed in a week.
The Cardinals came home after a four-game sweep in Pittsburgh with momentum. They opened the weekend by beating the Dodgers 7-2 on Friday night, then held on for a 3-2 win Saturday after Los Angeles made things uncomfortable in the ninth inning. It was not a clean finish, but it was a winning finish, and that matters.
Good clubs win games in different ways. Friday night was about offense. Saturday night was about pitching, defense, and survival.
Now Sunday becomes a measuring-stick game. Not because a sweep in early May decides anything, but because it gives the Cardinals another chance to show that this young club is not merely enjoying a good week. It is building something.
The Basics
Matchup: Los Angeles Dodgers at St. Louis Cardinals
Where: Busch Stadium
First pitch: 1:15 p.m. CT
Cardinals record: 20-13
Dodgers record: 20-13
Probable pitchers: RHP Dustin May vs. LHP Justin Wrobleski
TV: Cardinals.TV, SportsNet LA
Radio: Cardinals Radio Network
The Matchup
For the Cardinals, the storyline begins with Dustin May.
May spent the first part of his major-league career with the Dodgers, and there is no getting around the personal edge of facing a former team. Players will always say it is just another game, and to a point, that is the proper professional answer.
But baseball is played by men, not machines, and there is always a little extra weight when the uniform across the field is the one you used to wear.
May enters the start at 3-2 with a 5.53 ERA. The overall numbers still show some rough edges, but the Cardinals do not need him to be perfect on Sunday. They need him to keep the game under control, avoid the big inning, and force a Dodgers lineup that has been scuffling to string together hits the hard way.
That has been a big part of the Cardinals’ success in this series.
On Saturday, Michael McGreevy gave St. Louis six scoreless innings, while the defense turned four double plays in the first five frames. That is not the kind of baseball that ends up on national highlight reels, but it wins games. It keeps pitchers out of trouble, keeps the dugout steady and frustrates an opponent used to causing damage quickly.
The Dodgers did rally in the ninth Saturday, using four straight two-out hits to cut the lead to one run and put the tying and go-ahead runs on base. But Riley O’Brien finished the job with a strikeout, preserving the win and giving the Cardinals another reminder that late innings against great teams are rarely comfortable.
Nobody said beating the Dodgers was supposed to be easy. If it were, everybody would do it.
Los Angeles will counter with left-hander Justin Wrobleski, who has been one of the Dodgers’ better early-season stories.
Wrobleski comes into the game at 4-0 with a 1.48 ERA, and he has done a strong job of limiting damage through the first month. He is not a household name in a Dodgers rotation that usually comes with bright lights and bigger headlines, but he has been effective. That makes Sunday less about reputation and more about approach.
The Cardinals cannot assume momentum will score runs for them. Wrobleski has been too good for that.
Against a left-hander, St. Louis will need disciplined at-bats from the top of the order and continued production from the middle. Alec Burleson has been swinging the bat well. Ivan Herrera continues to give the Cardinals quality at-bats. Jordan Walker remains one of the biggest physical threats in the lineup, and his two-run homer Saturday was the difference in the game.
Walker’s development has been one of the more important stories of the Cardinals’ season. When he is driving the ball with authority, this lineup changes shape. He lengthens the order. He protects hitters around him. He gives the Cardinals the kind of power presence that can turn a tight game with one swing.
That is what happened on Saturday.
The Cardinals scored all three of their runs in the third inning, with Herrera doubling, Burleson following with an RBI double, and Walker delivering the two-run shot. It was not an offensive explosion, but it was enough because the pitching and defense did the rest.
That is winning baseball, whether it comes dressed in fireworks or muddy boots.
Wetherholt and Winn Continue to Change the Feel of the Club
One of the quiet themes of this series has been the Cardinals’ defense up the middle.
JJ Wetherholt and Masyn Winn have brought energy, range, and confidence to the infield, and Saturday’s double-play work was a reminder of how much a young defense can help a pitching staff. The Dodgers had early chances, but the Cardinals kept erasing them.
That matters with May on the mound Sunday.
May has always had the kind of stuff that can produce ground balls and weak contact when he is right. If he keeps the ball on the ground, the Cardinals’ infield has already shown it can turn trouble into two outs in a hurry.
Wetherholt also continues to look comfortable in the leadoff role. His arrival has given the Cardinals a different tone at the top of the order. He sees pitches, runs well, plays with confidence, and does not look overwhelmed by the moment. For a rookie, that is no small thing.
Winn, meanwhile, continues to bring the kind of defensive steadiness that does not always show up in the box score but shows up in the standings over time.
The old baseball men used to say you build a club up the middle for a reason. Catcher, middle infield, center field. That is where games are kept from getting away.
Right now, the Cardinals are getting real value there.
The Dodgers are looking for a spark, something, anything, because the Dodgers are too talented to stay quiet forever, and the Cardinals know it.
Los Angeles still has the kind of lineup that can flip a game in one inning, even with key players missing. The Dodgers have been held down for much of this series, but Saturday’s ninth inning was a reminder that a club with that much offensive depth does not need much room to make a game uncomfortable.
For St. Louis, the key Sunday will be getting ahead early and not allowing the Dodgers to settle in.
The Cardinals have played from in front in both games this weekend. That has allowed manager Oli Marmol to manage the bullpen with a lead and let the defense help dictate the game's rhythm. If the Dodgers get an early lead, the tone changes. Los Angeles can shorten the game, lean into its pitching depth, and force the Cardinals to chase.
That is why May's first two innings will be important, settle in early, throw strikes. make the Dodgers earn everything.
That is the assignment.
What to Watch
The Cardinals’ offense against Wrobleski is the first thing to watch. The young left-hander has earned his early-season numbers, but the Cardinals have been seeing the ball well and have gotten production from several spots in the order.
If St. Louis can force Wrobleski into deeper counts and get into the Dodgers’ bullpen by the middle innings, the game begins to tilt.
The second thing is May’s composure. Facing the Dodgers brings a little extra attention, whether anyone admits it or not. If he channels that properly, the Cardinals could get the kind of start that carries them through the afternoon.
The third thing is the bullpen. O'Brien got the save Saturday, but not without a little drama. The Cardinals will gladly take the win, but the ninth inning also showed why no lead against Los Angeles feels completely safe. If Sunday is close late, St. Louis will need cleaner execution to finish the sweep.
The Final Word
This is still early May, and nobody should start printing October tickets because of one good week.
But this is worth noting: the Cardinals have swept the Pirates, taken the first two games from the defending world champions, and pushed themselves into the thick of the National League Central race. They are playing cleaner baseball, getting impact from young players and showing more toughness than many expected this early in the season.
Sunday gives them a chance to put a proper finish on the homestand’s biggest series.
A win would not just complete a sweep.
It would send the Dodgers out of town with three losses, extend the Cardinals’ winning streak to seven, and give Cardinal Nation one more reason to believe that this club may be growing up faster than expected.
That is worth watching.
The Cardinal Chronicle in association with Gateway Sports