Series Preview: Cardinals (4-5) at Pirates (3-7)

4-7-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X

The Pittsburgh Pirates will host the St. Louis Cardinals this week in their first divisional series of the season. Both teams enter the week fresh off losing their respective weekend series to an AL East team with the Bucs dropping 2 of 3 to the Yankees and the Cardinals getting swept by the Red Sox.

The Cardinals offense has been among the best in MLB despite their underwhelming record with the 4th most runs scored (62) in addition to their current double-digit hits streak.

The Cardinals now have had 10+ hits in all 9 games this season, the 2nd-longest such streak to start a season since the mound was moved to its current distance (1893), behind only:

1999 CLE: 10

h/t @EliasSports

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 7, 2025

4/7

Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore (L) – 6.0 IP, 1-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 4 K, 0 BB

Pirates: Carmen Mlodzinski (R) – 3.2 IP, 0-1, 9.82 ERA, 2.45 WHIP, 4 K, 2 BB

4/8

Cardinals: Sonny Gray (R) – 11 IP, 1-0, 5.73 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 15 K, 2 BB

Pirates: Paul Skenes (R) – 12.1 IP, 1-0, 1.46 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, 13 K, 2 BB

4/9

Cardinals: Erick Fedde (R) – 9.0 IP, 1-1, 7.00 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 3 K, 4 BB

Pirates: Mitch Keller (R) – 9.2 IP, 1-1, 7.45 ERA, 1.86 WHIP, 8 K, 5 BB

Cardinals: Brendan Donovan – The super-utility man and former Gold Glove winner, Donovan led the Cardinals in hits last season and looks poised to repeat that achievement this year. He went 7-for-11 the past three games with 3 extra-base hits, raising his batting average up to .333 on the season.

Pirates: Ke’Bryan Hayes – Hayes has hit safely in each of the past five games, slashing .368/.455/.684 over that span. He’s also significantly cut down on his swing-and-miss at the plate while making better contact more frequently which indicates that this success can be sustainable.

Cardinals: Wilson Contreras – Moving to first base from catcher was expected to help Contreras be able to focus solely on hitting but the early returns this season have been disappointing. The Cardinals 2 hitter leads the team in strikeouts with 16 as he is batting just .114 entering this series.

Pirates: Tommy Pham – Pham’s walk-off hit on Sunday broke an 0-for-17 streak and made fans temporarily excited for the veteran journeyman but the boos that echoed PNC Park on Friday will ring again if he can’t provide something more for this offense.

Cardinals: Ivan Herrera (left knee inflammation) – Herrera exited game 1 of the Sunday doubleheader in Boston during the third inning with imaging revealing inflammation that will result in an IL stint for the young catcher.

Pirates: Colin Holderman (right knee sprain) – His pitching struggles from late last year have resurfaced and, if it’s due to injury, there may be hope he can get things right once he heals.

Team Notes

The Cardinals lead MLB in batting average (.301), OBP (.380) and are behind only the Yankees in SLG (.482). By contrast, the Pirates rank 28th in BA (.197), 24th in OBP (.290) and 30th in SLG (.296).

St. Louis sits on the other end of the spectrum on the pitching side as their team ERA (6.01) ranks dead last in MLB as both starters and relievers have struggled this year for the Red Birds.