Article Author:
Reuters
The frenetic St. Louis Cardinals will look to extend their winning streak to five games in a three-game set opener in Phoenix on Friday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals outscored their opponents 29-8 in a four-game span, including a three-game set against Colorado where he beat the Rockies 23-5.
Overall, St. Louis has won 15 of their last 19 games, culminating in a 13-0 win over the visiting Rockies on Thursday.
His one of the heroes was Albert his Pujols, who hit a pinch-hitter grand slam and finished with five RBIs. The explosion was his 11th of his season and 690th of his career.
"We're playing well right now. I think we're playing like we expected at the beginning of the year," Pujols said. "It wasn't, but we got glimpses here and there. Now we're playing the best baseball we've played all year." St. Louis was able to lead the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central by three games.
Paul Goldschmidt is batting hot back on his ground, Phoenix's former home, with his two RBIs on Thursday as he went 3-for-4.
Goldschmidt is 12-of-29 (.414) in his last eight games, with three home runs and he has 10 RBIs. He leads the Cardinals in home runs (29), RBI (94) and batting average (.335), the latter of which is tied for best in the majors with Luis Araez of Minnesota.
Goldschmidt has spent his 2011 to 2018 with Arizona, winning six of his seven All-Star appearances with the franchise. 262 with his four home runs and his 13 RBIs in his 16 career games with the Diamondbacks.
Arizona has won eight of its last 12 games and just finished his split on the road in his four games against the San Francisco Giants. The Diamondbacks won him 5-0 on Thursday. Arizona lost his second game of the series when San Francisco's Brandon Crawford hit a walk-off two-run homer in his ninth inning. The Diamondbacks won his 3-2 victory on Wednesday, and Zach Gallen's strong pitching contributed to Thursday's victory. Galen struck out 12 in scoreless 7 1/3 innings.
"This is an important win. "We haven't won a lot in this venue. We have to keep going.”
Rookie outfielder Stone Garrett made a strong impression in two wins in Arizona. It was Minor League 8 his first post-season Major League 2 game. Garrett went 4-for-8 with three doubles, one RBI and one stolen base. 275, 28 home runs, 22 doubles, 95 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 103 games in pre-promotion Triple-A Reno. .
St. Louis All-Star right-hander Myles Mikolas (9-9, 3.44 ERA) will try to cool Garrett off in the opening game.
Mikolas, who turns 34 on Tuesday, is putting up a strong fight against the Brewers. He allowed two runs and four hits in his eighth inning on Sunday, which he won 6-3.
This marked a strong comeback after being knocked out by the Rockies five days earlier when he allowed 10 runs and he allowed 14 hits in two innings of two and three minutes. .
Mikolas said he allowed two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings in a loss to Arizona on April 30. Ketel Marte and Nick Ahmed hit his 8th inning homers in a game the Diamondbacks won 2–0 for him.
Overall, Mikolas is 1-1, and against Arizona he has appeared in four games (two starts) and has a 2.55 ERA.
Lefty Tommy Henry (2-1, 4.15) will make his fourth start for the Diamondbacks. The 25-year-old has won his last two games, including Sunday's victory over the Rockies, where he allowed three runs and his five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
– Field Level Media
