MLB Game Preview - St. Louis at Pittsburgh

Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:35 PM EDT

The St. Louis Cardinals are battling for the National League Central lead. The Pittsburgh Pirates are fighting just to stay alive in the playoff race.

The Cardinals will aim for a sweep of their four-game series in a matinee game Thursday afternoon at Pittsburgh. St. Louis, the winner of four straight games and 10 of the past 12, is a half-game back of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the division.

The Pirates have lost four consecutive games and 10 of 12 to fall 8 1/2 games behind.

Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has three homers and eight RBIs through the first three games of the series. He has 21 RBIs thus far in July after driving home just five runs in June.

Pirates outfielder Starling Marte has gone 8-for-13 with four doubles, a homer and six RBIs in the series. In his past five games, Marte is 12-for-22 (.545) with six doubles, one homer and seven RBIs.

Miles Mikolas (6-10, 4.17 ERA) will pitch for the Cardinals on Thursday against the Pirates' Joe Musgrove (7-8, 4.08).

The last time the two right-handers matched up, the Cardinals rolled to a 7-0 victory July 15 in St. Louis. Mikolas threw an eight-hit shutout, striking out three without issuing a walk. Musgrove yielded five runs (four earned) on five hits, three walks and a hit batter in 4 2/3 innings. He fanned seven.

Musgrove has lost his two starts against the Cardinals this season, allowing 13 runs (12 earned) on 11 hits and eight walks in just 7 2/3 innings. He is 1-4 with a 7.09 ERA in five career starts against St. Louis.

However, Musgrove comes into this game off of a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. Due to teammate Trevor Williams' illness, he moved up his start one day and skipped his between-starts throwing session.

Musgrove was still razor sharp, commanding his six-pitch arsenal while allowing just one unearned run on two hits in six innings. He struck out eight and walked two.

"When you see him start getting the swing-and-miss and the punchouts, he's got his stuff and it's electric," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "We've seen other outings where there are foul balls and balls in play and he gets stretched out a little bit."

After his shutout over the Pirates, Mikolas ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings before hitting turbulence in Cincinnati's hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park on Saturday. A seventh-inning walk, Yasiel Puig's RBI double and Josh VanMeter's two-run homer doomed Mikolas to a 3-2 loss.

"Get the ball in the air and things happen," Mikolas told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Working down a lot most of the game, and I think one guy you don't want to work down to is Puig. I had been there all game and I tried to get one up, and maybe (I should have) stuck with the driving-the-ball-down mentality."

Mikolas has struggled in road games all season, going 1-6 with a 7.04 ERA in 10 starts.

Against the Pirates this year, he is 1-1 with a 2.14 ERA in three starts. In 10 career appearances against Pittsburgh, including eight starts, Mikolas is 3-3 with a 2.47 ERA.

Both teams hope their starters work deep into the game because both have taxed their bullpens in this series. Hurdle pitched utility man Jose Osuna for two innings and catcher Jacob Stallings for the ninth Wednesday night to spare his relievers additional work in a 14-8 loss.

Osuna served up Paul DeJong's third homer of the night, the Cardinals' fifth long ball of the game.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt had to stretch out relievers Mike Mayers and John Brebbia for two innings each on Wednesday, and each allowed two runs in his second inning.

--Field Level Media