6-2-23 – By Christian Wolf – @CWolfPGH on Twitter
When & Who
St. Louis Cardinals (25-32) at Pittsburgh Pirates (28-27)
Game 1 – (6/2, 7:05 EST)
Probable Pitchers:
For the Pirates – Roansy Contreras (3-4, 4.33 ERA)
For the Cardinals – Jack Flaherty (3-4, 4.81 ERA)
Game 2 – (6/3, 4:05 EST)
Probable Pitchers:
For the Pirates –Luis Ortiz (1-2, 4.35 ERA)
For the Cardinals– TBD
Game 3 – (6/4, 11:35 EST)
For the Pirates – Rich Hill (4-5, 4.76 ERA)
For the Cardinals– TBD
Team Trends
Who would have thought that coming into June, the Cardinals would be down near the bottom of the NL Central division? (To be fair, the bottom isn’t exactly real far from the top this year). But the Cardinals turned a dreadful start around and are now attempting to approach the .500 mark again after a horrible April.
The Pirates are coming off a dreadful month of their own, and are going to try to put the month of May behind them and work on a successful June. Somewhat amazingly, they are still right in the thick of things in the NL Central after a May that would put them far out of the division race in other years.
Who’s Hot
For the Cardinals – Nolan Arenado – Arenado recorded a hit in each of the past three games, going 4-for-10 in that span, and also just striking out once.
For the Pirates – Andrew McCutchen – What an amazing comeback Cutch is having with the Bucs, as he closes in on 2,000 career hits. He collected four of those hits against the Giants, while also collecting two walks.
Who’s Not
For the Cardinals – Willson Contreras – Contreras got a bag in the offseason but hasn’t exactly done much to show it yet. He is batting .043 over his past seven games, .107 over his last 15, and .183 over his last 30. He has struck out 33 times over his past 30 games, and just went 1-for-9 in the Cardinals series against the Royals, with four strikeouts.
For the Pirates – Austin Hedges – You could make an argument for Hedges to be here pretty much every series, but I try to avoid him as it seems obvious hitting isn’t a strong suit, but alas, I can’t avoid it forever. Just one hit for Hedges in the Giants series, with no walks. He is batting .169 over his past 30 games and still is yet to record a home run.
Series Overview & Prediction
Pirates-Cardinals always is a lot of fun, especially at PNC Park. This feels like an important matchup, but more so to see really how these teams stack up against each other. The Bucs split with the Cardinals in St. Louis last time out, and a series win here would kick off June in good fashion, and truly, this is going to be a very important month for the team.
St. Louis is certainly a talented team and is making a comeback after a rough beginning to the season. I think the Cardinals take two of three from the Pirates here, only because the Cardinals seem due to begin to climb back up the division, and the Pirates are still trying to recover from some bad play over the past month. Either way, this series will be a good one to watch.
Steel City Pirates 