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Pirates host Cardinals on Wednesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 9/30/2015  at  11:45:00 AM
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ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (100-57)

at PITTSBURGH PIRATES (95-62)

First pitch: Wednesday, 1:35 p.m. ET
Line: St. Louis +105, Pittsburgh -120, Total: 7

The Pirates will continue to fight for position in the National League when they host the Cardinals on Wednesday.

St. Louis defeated Pittsburgh 3-0 in the first game of this series and they now have a four-game lead in the NL Central with five games to play. If the Cardinals come away with a victory in this one then they’ll clinch the division. The Pirates, meanwhile, are pretty much playing for their positioning in the wild card race. They have already clinched a spot in the wild card game, but they still have a little bit of work to do in order to earn home field advantage in that game. The starters in this game are going to be RHP Michael Wacha (17-6, 3.15 ERA, 149 K) for the Cardinals and RHP Gerrit Cole (18-8, 2.60 ERA, 200 K) for the Pirates. St. Louis does not shy away from excellent starting pitchers, though, going 28-10 against the money line versus pitchers with an ERA of 3.50 or better this season. Pittsburgh, however, is an absurd 57-21 against the money line when playing against teams that average less than or equal to 0.6 errors per game this season. OF Stephen Piscotty (Concussion) is out indefinitely for the Cardinals, who are already without C Yadier Molina (Thumb) for the season. The Pirates are also dealing with a major injury, as Jung Ho Kang (Knee) is out for the year.

Wacha was supposed to go up against Cole on Tuesday night, but the game was postponed and now these pitchers will take the mound in this one. Wacha has gotten himself into a little bit of trouble recently, failing to pitch more than six innings in six straight starts. The Cardinals have lost in three of his past five outings and he’ll need to get back to being the guy he was all year. The last time Wacha faced Pittsburgh, he pitched six innings and allowed just two earned runs with seven strikeouts. He did, however, allow nine hits and that is a recipe for disaster and he can’t afford to do it again on Wednesday. 3B Matt Carpenter (.267, 27 HR, 83 RBI) has been playing extremely well for the Cardinals lately. He has five multi-hit games in the past 10 contests and scored the game-winning run on an error on Monday. Carpenter is also an impressive 6-for-19 with two homers and four RBI against Cole in his career. Another guy who people should look out for is OF Matt Holliday (.283, 4 HR, 34 RBI). Holliday is 6-for-12 with three RBI against Cole in his career and will need to keep that up, as he can really use some confidence heading into the postseason. He has gone hitless in three of the past four games and St. Louis needs him to start hitting.

Gerrit Cole shut down the Cubs in his last start, pitching seven innings and allowing just one earned run with eight strikeouts. The Pirates have won in each of Cole’s past four starts and they’ll be feeling good sending him to the mound in this one. He pitched seven innings of shutout baseball against the Cardinals on Sep. 6 and another performance like that would likely keep the Pirates alive in the division for just a bit longer. Offensively, the Pittsburgh offense will need to make things happen and it needs to do it soon. The Pirates have been shutout in back-to-back games and will need their star players to step it up. OF Andrew McCutchen (.293, 22 HR, 95 RBI) is the guy that will really need to spark his team. He has not had an RBI since Sep. 19 and that is unacceptable for a player of his caliber. He has also not recorded a multi-hit game since Sep. 15. OF Starling Marte (.288, 18 HR, 79 RBI) will also need to start hitting, as he is just 2-for-17 in the past four games. The Pirates will really struggle to win games with McCutchen and Marte producing little to nothing.


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