Cardinals at Mets
The St. Louis Cardinals are the highest-scoring team in the National League and have been on a roll with 43 runs in their last five games. St. Louis continued its torrid stretch with a 9-2 rout of the New York Mets in Tuesday's series opener, a win helped along by a pair of errors and a misplay by the home team. The Cardinals, who own the best overall and top road record in the majors, can extend their unbeaten series streak to 13 in a row by beating the Mets on Wednesday night.
New York shook up its roster after getting swept by league-worst Miami on consecutive weekends, but the retooled defensive alignment did not distinguish itself Tuesday. Daniel Murphy, moved to first base in place of the demoted Ike Davis, committed an error that led to five unearned runs and recent callup Kirk Nieuwenhuis dropped a fly ball that cost the Mets two more runs. New York has lost seven of eight overall and 11 of 14 at Citi Field.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Midwest (St. Louis), SNY (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Shelby Miller (7-3, 1.91 ERA) vs. Mets RH Dillon Gee (4-6, 5.20)
Miller has a shaky first inning in his last outing against Arizona but regrouped to give up two runs on six hits while striking out nine in six innings. He has yet to allow more than three runs in any of his dozen starts and has surrendered only one home run in his last seven outings. Miller blanked the Mets on four hits over 5 2/3 innings on May 15.
Gee appeared ticketed for a demotion after a string of mediocre starts but he has rebounded with consecutive strong efforts. He held Washington to one run in seven innings last time out and limited the New York Yankees to a run while striking out 12 over 7 1/3 innings in his previous outing. He was tagged for six runs (five earned) on nine hits in four innings against St. Louis on May 14.
WALK-OFFS
1. Cardinals 3B David Freese extended his hitting streak to a career-high 20 games Tuesday.
2. Mets LF Lucas Duda is 2-for-20 in his last five games.
3. Yadier Molina, the NL's second-leading hitter, is 0-for-9 lifetime against Gee.