The St. Louis Cardinals (65-37) moved 5.5 games clear at the top of the NL Central standings with a thrilling 9-8 victory Thursday over the Colorado Rockies. The league-leading Cards will look to stretch that advantage even further when they take on the Rockies (43-57) in Game 2 of their three-game series later tonight.
Who will grab the edge in this National League matchup? Read on below for a breakdown of this clash and while you’re at it you can check out our MLB previews of Angels vs. Dodgers and Nationals vs. Mets.
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Colorado Rockies vs. St. Louis Cardinals Preview
Where: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri
When: Friday, July 31, 8:15 PM ET
Line: Colorado Rockies (+200) at St. Louis Cardinals (-240); total: 7.0 – view all MLB lines
Betting on the Colorado Rockies
Colorado’s losing woes show no sign of abating as the Rockies suffered a gut-wrenching 9-8 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday. The Rockies have now lost eight of their last 12 games as they dropped down to 43-57 in the NL West standings.
[sc:MLB240banner ]For the Rockies to end their losing rut tonight, they need a great pitching performance from starter Kyle Kendrick (8-6, 4.53 ERA). In 12 career appearances versus the Cardinals (10 starts), Kendrick is 6-3 with a 3.53 ERA. He was far from perfect in his last start against Cincinnati (six runs, five innings pitched) but picked up his second home win of the season thanks to a whopping 17 runs of support.
He will need that same kind of offensive production if he is to beat St. Louis tonight. Kendrick has struggled mightily on the road this season, posting a 2-6 record with a 5.52 ERA. Prior to their series against the Cards, the Rockies were averaging just 3.3 runs in their previous 22 road games. Their offense, though, showed signs of life last night against the Cards, scoring eight runs on 16 hits.
Expected to lead the Colorado offense tonight is the red-hot DJ LeMahieu. He is 13-of-28 (.464) in his last seven games with three doubles and five RBIs. He went 3-of-4 last night against the Cards, scoring one run. LeMahieu is 3-of-7 in his career against Cards starter Michael Wacha with one RBI.
The St. Louis Cardinals snapped their two-game losing streak with a heart-stopping 9-8 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. Greg Garcia’s bases-loaded walk capped a three-run rally for the Cards who recorded their seventh walk-off win of the season.
The Cards will look to make it back-to-back wins later tonight when they face the Rockies in the second game of their three-game set. Starting for St. Louis this evening is Michael Wacha (11-4, 3.27 ERA). He picked up his fourth loss of the season on Sunday against the Braves, allowing three runs on five hits and three walks in six innings. He has now allowed 13 runs over his last three starts (17 innings).
Given Wacha’s recent pitching woes, the onus is on the St. Louis offense to pick up the scoring slack tonight. They have done that consistently with Wacha this year with the right-hander getting the most run support in the National League (6.16 runs a start) this season.
After being shut out in their previous two games, the Cardinals finally woke up from their offensive slumber last night, scoring nine runs on 14 hits against the Rockies. Matt Carpenter was on fire for the Cards in the series opener, going 4-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs. It was Carpenter’s first multi-homer game in his career.
Carpenter benefited from his switch to the leadoff spot last night. He is hitting .370 (34 for 92) with six homers and 17 RBI in the leadoff position this season. In comparison, he hit just .225 (56 for 249) with six homers and 33 RBIs in the 2-hole this year. He will fancy his chances of extending that excellent form later tonight as he has fared extremely well against Kyle Kendrick in the past. He is 4-of-12 lifetime against Kendrick with one homer and two RBIs.
