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Cardinals face Cubs on Sunday night
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 9/23/2016  at  7:45:00 PM
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ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

at CHICAGO CUBS

First pitch: Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: N/A, Total: N/A

The Cardinals will be hoping to better their chances of playing in the postseason with a road win over the Cubs on Sunday night.

St. Louis is currently battling with both the Mets and Giants for one of the two NL Wild Card spots and a win over Chicago on Sunday would come a long way for the team. With so few games remaining, the Cardinals know that they need to win this one and RHP Carlos Martinez (15-8, 3.16 ERA, 159 K) is going to need to pitch well for St. Louis. Martinez has, however, really struggled against the Cubs this season. In four starts against Chicago, Martinez is 1-2 with a 5.25 ERA in 24.0 innings of work. He’ll be hoping to be a lot better this time around, and it’s important that he holds his own in a duel with LHP Jon Lester (18-4, 2.36 ERA, 184 K). Lester is one of the hottest pitchers in baseball right now, as he has allowed one or fewer earned runs in seven straight starts coming into this game. He has also pitched into the eighth inning in two of those outings and it would really help Chicago if he can work deep into this one.

Carlos Martinez has pitched well for the Cardinals recently, allowing two or fewer earned runs in six of his past seven starts. St. Louis has won in all six of those contests, but that one loss was when he allowed four earned runs in six innings of work against this Chicago team on Sep. 14. Martinez is going to need to find a way to figure out this Cubs lineup on Sunday, as the Cardinals are desperate for victories at this point in the season. Offensively, look for guys like 3B Jhonny Peralta and C Yadier Molina to step it up for St. Louis in this one. The two of them are a combined 16-for-63 with three doubles, three homers (all from Peralta) and 10 RBI against Jon Lester in their careers. OF Matt Holiday has also gotten the best of Lester, going 6-for-12 with a double and three RBI against the lefty in his career. He is, however, questionable for this one, as he has been on the DL with an injured right thumb.

Lester has been on fire lately and he would certainly be in the Cy Young conversation if it weren’t for his teammate, Kyle Hendricks, being around to steal the show. Lester faced this St. Louis team on Sep. 14 and was brilliant in that outing. The lefty pitched eight innings in that one, striking out eight batters in a shutout. He’ll be hoping to regain that groove when he takes the mound in this nationally televised game on Sunday. Lester’s run support in this one should not be a huge issue either. The Cubs have really given Martinez trouble in their careers, especially guys like 1B Anthony Rizzo and OF Jason Heyward. Rizzo is 7-for-23 with a double, a triple, three homers and seven RBI against Martinez in his career. He’ll be hoping to go yard once again in this one. Heyward, meanwhile, is 6-for-14 with a double and two RBI versus the righty. If he can get on base in this one then it’d be big for the team, as he has struggled all season and the Cubs have the bats to take advantage of him being on the bases.


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