St. Louis Cardinals: Next six games are crucial wins

The St. Louis Cardinals have turned their season around and have won each series under interim manager Mike Shildt. The winning ways must continue throughout these next six games.

The St. Louis Cardinals are slated to face the following pitchers in the Pirates series: Ivan Nova, Trevor Williams, and Joe Musgrove. Let’s take a look at each.

Nova has a 2018 record of 7-8 with a 4.20 ERA. In his last start he took the loss over six innings of 4-hit, 2-earned-run baseball. In this start against the Braves, Nova struck out four batters and walked none. This could bode well for the St. Louis Cardinals as it indicates that Nova put a lot of balls in play. Could the Cards keep these from becoming outs in the field? We will see starting tonight.

The last time Nova faced the Cardinals was on August 4 in which he allowed 4 earned runs on 8 hits across only 4.0 innings. In those four innings, Nova threw 92 pitches. Look for the Cardinals to show patience and work his pitch count once again.

Nova is slated to face-off against rookie phenom Jack Flaherty. This could be a fun pitching match to watch. I predict, however, that the St. Louis Cardinals will take the victory in this game.

Williams has a 2018 record of 10-9 with a 3.44 ERA. In his last start he took a no-decision through six innings of 2-hit, 1-earned-run baseball. In this start against the Braves, Williams struck out four batters and walked two.

The last time Williams faced the Cardinals was on August 5 in which he allowed 2 earned runs on 9 hits across only 5.0 innings. In those five innings, Williams threw 90 pitches. He was saddled with the loss. Look for the Cardinals to jump on him early to prevent him from settling-in.

Williams is slated to face-off against the masterful Miles Mikolas. If Mikolas is as great as he has been then I predict that the St. Louis Cardinals will take the victory in this game.

Musgrove has a 2018 record of 5-7 with a 3.56 ERA. In his last start he took a no-decision through four innings of 6-hit, 4-earned-run baseball. In this start against the Brewers, Williams struck out four batters and walked none.

The last time Musgrove faced the Cardinals was way back on May 25 in which he allowed 0 earned runs on 5 hits across 7.0 innings. In those seven innings, Williams threw 67 efficient pitches. He was awarded the win for stifling the Cards. This was, of course, back in the day of Mike Matheny…

Musgrove is slated to face-off against TBD. TBD has yet to appear for the St. Louis Cardinals this season. Joking aside, I think Musgrove will be the real challenge of the Pittsburgh pitchers this series. I look for the Cardinals to need to fight hard to take the Thursday game. This one is a toss-up for me until I know who the Pirates will face on the mound.

In conclusion, I look for the Cardinals to take at the very least 2-of-3 from the Pirates this series. Like I said, depending on who pitches for the Cardinals in the Thursday game, I might change my vote to a sweep but until that has been determined, I just don’t feel comfortable enough making a guess.