St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals look to keep rolling against Houston

Coming off of a sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals look to continue their success against the undistinguished Houston Astros.

The St. Louis Cardinals are back at home tonight and are looking to continue their recent success in a two game series with the Houston Astros. The former division rivals are currently in third place in the AL West and aren’t looking like the commanding team that they were last season.

Through 65 games, the Astros hold a record of 30-35 and are 5-5 in their last 10 games. Houston hasn’t lived up to the expectations that they set last season after they made it to the ALCS, and haven’t really shown any signs of returning to that form.

On the other hand, the Cardinals look like they may be beginning their ascent towards the Chicago Cubs, who are currently 8.5 games ahead of St. Louis in the NL Central standings. The Cardinals, who hold a record of 35-28 and hold the top spot in the NL Wild Card, have now won five games in a row and are looking to extend that streak against Houston tonight.

Cardinals fans should be optimistic about this series because the Houston Astros have had serious struggles when playing away from home. On the road, the Astros hold a record of 13-21, which comes out to a winning percentage of only .382. When you compare this to their record at home 17-14 (.548), you can see that the Astros have some sort of disconnect when playing opponents away from Minute Maid Park.

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Though the Cardinals have not been the most impressive team at home this season (15-16, .483), the Astros’ troubles seem to outweigh those that the Cardinals have had at home. This, coupled with the Cardinals’ recent stretch of quality baseball, could help St. Louis chip away a little more in the NL Central standings. Though these aren’t the days of the miserable 100-loss Astros, this Houston team is one that the Cardinals can definitely handle to this point in the season.

Pitching match-ups

June 14: Doug Fister (6-3, 3.34 ERA) vs. Jaime Garcia (4-5, 3.89 ERA)

June 15: Collin McHugh (5-5, 5.22 ERA) vs. Adam Wainwright (5-4, 5.21 ERA)

Players to watch

Cardinals:

Matt Holliday (Last 3 games): 6-11, .545 AVG., 2 HR, 5 RBI

Brandon Moss (Last 3 games): 5-13, .385 AVG., 2B, HR, 3 RBI

Matt Carpenter (Last 3 games): 4-10, .400 AVG., 2 2B, HR, 6 BB, 4 RBI

Astros:

Jose Altuve (Last 3 games): 5-10, .500 AVG., RBI

Doug Fister (Last 3 starts): 2-0, 1.00 ERA, 16 hits, 2 ER

Marwin Gonzalez (Last 3 games): 5-13, .385 AVG.

Next: Cardinals Rounding Into Form After Sweep of Pirates

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