Cards Open Five-Game Series Against the Reds with a Doubleheader

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Series Preview: Cards Open Five-Game Series in Against the Reds with a Doubleheader
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals take their Wild Card chase to Cincinnati today, opening a five-game, four-day series against the Reds with a day-night doubleheader at Great American Ball Park.

The opener is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. CT, with left-hander Quinn Mathews returning to the Cardinals rotation. Andre Pallante will start Game 2 at 5:40 p.m. The unusual schedule immediately puts pressure on both pitching staffs and makes innings from the two Cardinals starters especially valuable.

St. Louis arrives in Cincinnati at 63-61 after taking two of three from the Cubs at Wrigley Field and winning the season series against Chicago, seven games to six. The Cardinals have won seven of their last 10 and remain 3½ games out of the final National League Wild Card position.

That is close enough to matter.

The Cardinals sold at the trade deadline, moving Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Lars Nootbaar, but the younger roster has continued to win. Instead of fading from the race, St. Louis has climbed above .500 and given itself a reason to make the final six weeks interesting.

Now comes a series it needs to take advantage of, because Cincinnati enters below .500 and behind St. Louis in the standings.

The Reds remain dangerous, particularly at Great American Ball Park, where one mistake can quickly become a home run. Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, Eugenio Suárez and Tyler Stephenson give Cincinnati enough offense to punish sloppy pitching, and the Cardinals cannot assume their recent momentum will simply carry over.

Mathews gets the first opportunity today.

The 25-year-old made his Major League debut earlier this month in Toronto, allowing two runs over five innings. He showed poise despite working through traffic and looked comfortable enough against Major League hitters to earn another opportunity.

His command will again be the key. Mathews has enough stuff to get big-league hitters out, but Great American Ball Park is not a forgiving place for elevated fastballs or missed locations. He needs to attack the strike zone, trust his changeup and breaking ball and avoid giving Cincinnati free baserunners.

The Cardinals also need Mathews to provide some length. With another game only a few hours later and three more games following before the club leaves Cincinnati, burning through the bullpen in Game 1 would create problems that could last the entire series.

That makes Pallante an ideal choice for the nightcap.

Pallante enters at 12-6 with a 3.46 ERA and has become one of the most dependable starters on the staff. When his sinker is working at the bottom of the zone, he creates ground balls, quick innings and exactly the kind of efficient outing the Cardinals could use in the second game of a doubleheader.

Cincinnati is expected to counter with Rhett Lowder in Game 2, with Andrew Abbott and Chase Burns scheduled later in the series. Burns, in particular, represents the toughest pitching challenge of the week, which makes taking advantage of today’s opportunities even more important.

The Cardinals offense also arrives with a little more electricity than it had a few weeks ago.

Joshua Báez’s historic three-home-run Major League debut at Wrigley Field immediately gave the lineup another legitimate power threat. Alec Burleson continues to be one of the club’s most reliable run producers, Jordan Walker has supplied consistent power, and JJ Wetherholt continues to create opportunities near the top of the order.

Báez does not need to reproduce his spectacular debut every afternoon. What matters is that his presence lengthens the lineup and gives opposing pitchers another hitter capable of changing a game with one swing.

That young core is becoming the story of the second half.

The Cardinals may have shifted their focus toward the future at the deadline, but development does not require surrendering the present. Wetherholt, Walker, Báez, Blaze Jordan, Nathan Church, Masyn Winn and the rest of this younger roster are learning while playing games that still matter in the standings.

That is exactly how it should be.

Five games in four days against a division opponent presents both opportunity and danger. Win three and the Cardinals leave Cincinnati having taken another series. Win four, and the Wild Card standings could look considerably different by Thursday night.

But there is little reason to look that far ahead.

Today provides two games and two chances to win.

Mathews gets the first baseball. Pallante gets the second.

The Cardinals left Chicago with momentum, a winning record and renewed life in the postseason race.

Now they need to keep it going in Cincinnati.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.

Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary:
www.cardinalchronicle.com

Photo Credit: Quinn Mathews, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB