Series Outlook: Cardinals Vs Pittsburgh Pirates
After a wonderful 6 game home stand in which they went 4-2, the Cardinals are back on the road tonight as they begin a long 10 game road trip that’ll take them through Pennsylvania and DC before coming home to St.Louis on the 26th. The first stop of this road trip is the Steel City where the Cardinals meet up with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the first time in 2013. The Pirates are on a little bit of a roll right now. They’re in the middle of a long home stand and they’re coming off a sweep of the Reds over the weekend giving them a 6-6 record on the year. The big thing with the Pirates so far this season has been how bad their pitching staff has been. Through the first 12 games, they have an ERA of 4.94 and Jonathan Sanchez (who will start Tuesday) has an ERA of 12.96.
The Cardinals are doing pretty well at the moment, standing at 7-5 with the top spot in the NL Central. The Starting Pitching has been absolutely superb with a team ERA 1.82 through the first 12 games of the season. The problem with the Cardinals has been the bullpen, which has the worst ERA in the Big Leagues at 6.09, and with Jason Motte possibly out for an extended period of time, this could turn out to be a big problem for the Redbirds if they can’t get it solved quick.
All in all, this should be a good 3 game set between two division rivals. The Pirates will be looking to keep up the momentum after their sweep of the Reds, while the Cardinals will look to get their road trip off to a good start.