Cardinals Open Key NL Central Stretch Against Pirates

The Cardinal Chronicle
Divisional Gauntlet Begins: Cardinals Open Key NL Central Stretch Against Pirates
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The Cardinals have reached the part of the May schedule where the standings begin to speak a little louder.

After closing out the I-70 Series with Kansas City, St. Louis opens a three-game set Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium, the first stop in what amounts to a divisional gauntlet to close out the month. With the National League Central still packed tightly enough that one good week can change the view from the top porch, the Cardinals now turn from rivalry noise to division business.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. at Busch Stadium. Pittsburgh is expected to send right-hander Mitch Keller to the mound, while St. Louis will start left-hander Matthew Liberatore.

The good news for the Cardinals is that they are not expected to see Paul Skenes in this series. Skenes made his turn Sunday against Philadelphia, putting him out of line for the three-game set in St. Louis. For a Cardinals club trying to build momentum inside the division, missing one of baseball’s most dominant arms is no small break.

The other encouraging development is the status of Masyn Winn. Winn left Sunday’s game against Kansas City in the seventh inning with left knee discomfort, but early signs were the shortstop avoided anything serious. With the Cardinals off Monday, Winn had an extra day to recover, and the club expects him to be back in the lineup as St. Louis opens the series against Pittsburgh.

That matters. Winn has become more than just a defensive anchor at shortstop. He sets the tone for this club with his range, arm strength, energy and ability to impact the game in ways that do not always fit neatly into the box score. In a stretch loaded with divisional opponents, having Winn available is simply not a lineup boost. It is a stabiliser.

There will also be a little extra noise in the building Tuesday night.

The Stephen F. Austin Club Baseball team, which helped turn Busch Stadium into something closer to a college football student section during the weekend series against Kansas City, is expected back for one final ride, leading the #TarpsOff section. For a franchise that has spent the early part of the season trying to reconnect momentum on the field with energy in the stands, the return of the Tarps Off crew gives Tuesday’s opener a little more life than a standard May weeknight game.

And frankly, the Cardinals should take every bit of it.

This is the kind of stretch where good teams begin to separate themselves from hopeful teams. The Pirates come in trying to keep pace in a crowded division, while the Cardinals aim to prove their recent surge is more than a hot streak.

They have played themselves into a position where the next two weeks matter, and now they get a chance to make those games count against the clubs they are directly chasing — or trying to hold off.

Liberatore’s start will be worth watching closely. The left-hander has shown flashes of the pitcher the Cardinals believe can hold a rotation spot through the grind of the season, but Pittsburgh has seen him before and will not be walking into Busch Stadium blind. His ability to command the strike zone early, avoid long innings and keep the ball in the yard could shape the tone of the entire series.

Offensively, the Cardinals need to return to the kind of pressure baseball that drove their climb. That means traffic on the bases, aggressive, but smart at-bats, and production beyond the middle of the order. The Pirates are not a club that the Cardinals can afford to let hang around, especially with division games carrying added weight this time of year.

The calendar still says May, but the schedule says something else.

The Cardinals are entering a stretch that will help define what they are — not in October, not at the trade deadline, but right now. A strong finish to the month could strengthen their case as a legitimate player in the division race. A stumble could force harder questions about depth, roster construction and how aggressively Chaim Bloom should approach the summer.

For one night, though, it starts simply enough.

Beat Pittsburgh. Protect Busch Stadium. Let the Tarps Off crowd make some noise one more time.

The divisional gauntlet begins Tuesday night.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports