Last Updated on May 21, 2016 12:35 pm by Brad Burns
Another offensive show for Cards, D-backs?
Mike Matheny resorted to using a position player as a pitcher in Friday’s affair. Odds are, this afternoon’s situation on the mound will be markedly better for the St. Louis skipper.
The Cardinals take on the Diamondbacks at 4:05 p.m. ET in the middle contest of a three-game set. Online sports book Bovada.lv sides with the host squad, whereas Arizona enters as a +145 underdog. The over/under figure holds steady at eight runs.
After another disappointing Carlos Martinez start, things actually turned worse for the Redbirds as last night’s tilt progressed. The bullpen endured such a brutal eighth inning that Matheny tabbed infielder Ruben Tejada to work the ninth. St. Louis (22-20) managed to plate five in the bottom of the frame to make the final score 11-7, but it was no certainly way to follow up a positive showing vs. Colorado.
In several hours, though, Mike Leake (2-3, 4.66 ERA) aims to keep his hot streak going. The veteran righty yielded one run across eight innings to vanquish the Angels on May 10 before securing a 5-2 weekend win over the Dodgers. Of course, Leake will need to be much better than he showed against the D-backs (20-24) in 2015. The Arizona State product dropped both meetings while surrendering nine runs and 19 base knocks in 8 2/3 innings.
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Chip Hale deploys Robbie Ray (2-2, 4.46), who tamed the Yankees earlier in the week. We just saw the Cards struggle mightily with one lefty in Patrick Corbin, so perhaps facing a second southpaw in the span of roughly 20 hours constrains Matheny’s well-known ability to maneuver the chess pieces in his order. Either way, these two clubs have a knack for producing fireworks. Go high.
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