St. Louis Cardinals @ Kansas City Royals 6/28 Game Thread

The St. Louis Cardinals, on a rough patch of late, look to reverse their losing ways on Tuesday night in Kansas City before they- and the Royals- return to Busch Stadium.

The St. Louis Cardinals lost another rough one behind Adam Wainwright on Monday night.  The birds look to find their winning ways on Tuesday in Kansas City.

So, why do a preview?  Our hope at Redbird Rants is to start providing game previews, live Twitter updates, live in-game discussions, a few posts during games from time-to-time, and then post-game recap/reaction pieces.  We want to be YOUR place for Cardinals game information!

To the preview…

Michael Wacha takes the mound for the Cardinals.  In his last start, Wacha lasted 6.1 innings which was enough to earn him the win in Chicago.  In this start he surrendered three hits and two earned runs but he looked like the old Wacha we all knew and loved.

For Kansas City, Yordano Ventura returns from his recent eight-game suspension.  Prior to his suspension, Ventura was near untouchable having allowed only one run in his two starts going into the suspension.  In these two start, Ventura pitched 13.1 innings and struck out fifteen batters.

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While Ventura will be a challenge for sure, Wacha is nothing to shake a stick at and dismiss.  In his career facing the Royals, Wacha owns a 1.80 ERA in three quality starts against the cross-state rivals.

Kansas City hopes that power bat Kendrys Morales can stay hot, having recorded twenty hits in his last forty-five at-bats.  To the Cardinals credit against these hopes, Morales, in just four at-bats against Wacha, has only managed to ink one hit.

On the Cardinals side of things, fans should hope that Matt Holliday stays hot.  Holliday has recorded eight hits in twenty-nine at-bats over the past seven games for a .276/.290/.759 slash line.  In these hits, he has recorded four home runs and ten RBI.

Here is the lineup for the Cardinals for tonight’s contest:

And here is the lineup for the Royals for tonight’s contest:

What jumps out to you in these?  Anything of interest?  Will the return of Matt Adams hurt or is this return too soon?  That jumps out to me!

Next: Cardinals Represented in the Futures Game

Let’s hope that our birds can find their offensive ways early as they did last night and then maintain this throughout the game (something they didn’t do last night).  Let’s also hope that Wacha is the Wacha of old and we get to fly a W tonight! Let us know your thoughts on this game in the comments section!