Phillies at Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals have plenty of questions about their pitching staff in the wake of Adam Wainwright’s season-ending injury, but the offense looks ready to pick up the slack. The Cardinals will try to slug their way to a win when they host the Philadelphia Phillies in the third contest of their four-game series on Wednesday.
St. Louis dropped the series opener 4-1 on Monday but found its bats on Tuesday, collecting 15 hits in the 11-5 triumph. Each of the top four batters in the order recorded multiple hits and combined for six RBIs as Matt Adams and Jon Jay tried to keep pace with the hot starts of Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday. The Phillies are enjoying their own offensive surge with at least four runs in three straight games after totaling five in their previous four contests. Rookie center fielder Odubel Herrera is leading the way with three RBIs in his last two games.
TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN, CSN Philadelphia, FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Phillies RH Aaron Harang (2-1, 1.37 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Carlos Martinez (2-0, 1.35)
Harang has posted four quality starts in as many outings and had no trouble carving up the Atlanta Braves on Friday, allowing two hits in eight scoreless innings. The San Diego State product has gotten off to fast starts the past two seasons and posted a 2.97 ERA in April 2014. Harang is 7-15 with a 4.27 ERA in 27 career turns against St. Louis.
Martinez is getting his first sustained look as a starter and is having little trouble with the transition from the bullpen. The Dominican Republic native turned in his best effort last time out, when he struck out eight and scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings at Milwaukee. Martinez has worked eight frames in his career against the Phillies, surrendering three runs on as many hits and striking out six.
WALK-OFFS
1. Phillies 2B Chase Utley went 1-for-5 on Tuesday to lift his batting average to .119.
2. Holliday is 5-for-11 with five RBIs in his last three games.
3. Philadelphia SS Freddy Galvis has recorded three three-hit performances in his last five starts.