ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
RECENT REDBIRDS: The defending NL Central Division Champion St. Louis Cardinals open their first road-trip (MIL-3, COL-3) of the season tonight with a three-game Easter weekend series in Milwaukee…the Cardinals, who were off yesterday, went 2-4 on their opening homestand, winning 2-of-3 from Toronto before being swept in three games by the Atlanta Braves…the Cardinals are off to a 2-4 start for the first time since 2017 when they began the campaign at 2-6.
WALKER’S WEEK OF FIRSTS: Twenty-year-old rookie outfielder Jordan Walker, the Cardinals 1st round draft selection in 2020, hit safely in each of his first six games during the just concluded season-opening homestand. Walker collected his 1st career hit on Opening Day with a 2nd inning single, collected his 1st RBI and stolen base on Sat. (4/1), his 1st extra base hit (double) on Sun. (4/2) and his 1st home run on Wed. (4/5). Walker has hit safely in the first six games to begin his career, longest such streak by a Cardinal rookie since Juan Yepez (7 games in 2022)…he is the MLB rookie leader in hits (8) and is 3rd in batting (.333) among rookies; Brewers’ Joey Wiemer is T1st (.353)…At 20
years, 320 days old today, Walker is the majors’ youngest player and the first MLB player to be born in the year 2002.
OFF THE BAT: Jordan Walker is currently ranked T4th among all Major Leaguers in hard-hit balls (95+ MPH) with 13, trailing only the Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (17) & Matt Chapman (16) and Red Sox Rafael Devers (15)…According to Baseball Savant, St. Louis ranks 1st in MLB in hard hit balls of 95+mph (87) and 3rd in average exit velocity (91.1 mph).
KID’S CLUB: The Cardinals & Brewers enter this weekend’s series with two of the majors top combined rookie totals in both batting average (STL -.325, 2nd, MIL-.321, 3rd) and hits (MIL-17, 1st, STL-13, 2nd). The Brewers have 13 combined RBI from their rookies (1st in MLB) and the Cardinals 7 (T4th).
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER: Oliver Marmol is closing in on his 100th career win as Cardinals manager, going 95-73 over his first 168 games … Marmol needs five wins before July 2 to become the 11th MLB manager in the Expansion Era (1961-present) and 93rd overall in MLB history to win his 100th game before his 37th birthday … Marmol is poised to become the 52nd manager all-time to reach 100 wins with a winning record before age 37 and first since Sparky Anderson (age 36.216, 100-59 record) in 1970 … Prior to Marmol, only player managers Rogers Hornsby (age 30.057, 100-79 record) in 1926 and Frankie Frisch (age 36.341, 100-72 record) in 1934 piloted Cardinals teams to 100 victories before age 37 (chart left) – Elias
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Since the Cardinals and Brewers began regular season play in 1997, the Cardinals own the most wins against the Brewers (234-181, .564) and have the best road winning percentage against the Brewers (121-86, .585) of any team to visit Milwaukee since 1997. Their .589 win pct. (109-76) since American Family Field opened in 2001 is tops among all teams who annually play in Milwaukee.
FINEST IN THE FIELD: The Cardinals and Mets are the only two MLB teams with perfect 1.000 fielding percentages this season…it’s the first time in franchise history (since 1901) that the Redbirds have begun a season without committing an error in their first six games. The Cardinals have won back-to-back (2021-2022) Rawlings Team Gold Glove Awards for defensive excellence.
MAKING HIMSELF AT HOME: Paul Goldschmidt has hit 18 career HR’s at American Family Field, 2nd among opposing active players to the Reds’ Joey Votto (21)…Goldy had a 3-HR game here on 3/29/19 in his second career game as a Cardinal.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: The Cardinals have hit the most home runs (231) of all opposing teams at American Family Field since it opened in 2001.
BROTHERS: Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras will match-up this series against his younger bother William. It’s the first time a Cardinals player has faced his brother in the opposite dugout since Yadier Molina played against his brother Jose in 2014. Yadi also had meetings against his brother Bengie as recently as 2010…Cardinals Asst. GM & Director of Scouting Randy Flores and his brother, Ron, played against
each other in 2007 while Randy was pitching for St. Louis. (Elias)
TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP JACK FLAHERTY (1-0, 0.00)
TONIGHT’S GAME
• Making his 100th career start today with 17 of them coming against the Brewers. Is the 56th pitcher in Cardinals franchise history to make 100 or more starts.
• Needs eight strikeouts to tie Theodore Breitenstein for 30th all-time in Cardinals history and 10 to tie Andy Benes for 29th at 614.
• Owns a career mark of 8-2, 3.09 ERA in 13 career starts in the monh of April. Has won 6-straight April decisions, with his last April loss coming on 4/16/19 at MIL.
• Enters tonight coming off five innings of no-hit ball vs. Toronto (4/1) in the second game of the season. Was his 4th start carrying a no-hitter through 5.0 innings in his career. Issued a career-high seven walks.
• Became the 16th pitcher since 1901 to issue seven walks in a scoreless and hitless outing of any length (Langs)
• Became the 5th pitcher in Cardinals history to pitch exactly 5.0 innings without allowing a hit or a run in a start.
• Trails only Wainwright & DeJong in years of Cardinals service on current roster.
• Was 1-2 with a 6.41 ERA in Spring Training play, facing the Houston Astros in four of his five Grapefruit League starts.
• Is 20-13 in 50 career games (47 starts) at Busch Stadium. His .188 opponent batting average is the lowest in stadium history (min. 100 IP), while his 292 strikeouts (8th) and 2.79 ERA (7th) at Busch both rank in the Top 10 among all pitchers in the ballpark’s history (since 2006).
• Has held his opposition to six hits or fewer in 26 consecutive starts dating back to Sept. 20, 2020, 2nd only to Jacob deGrom (35) among non-opener starting pitchers (Stanek 56, Lamet 46).
• Has held his opposition to a .205 career batting average, ranking 13th among MLB pitchers with more than 500 career innings pitched in the Live Ball Era (post-1920).
• Missed a total of 122 games last season due to a right shoulder injury (64 games from April 7-June 14 and another 58 games from June 27-Sept.4)
• Since becoming a full-time starting pitcher in 2018, ranks 15th among MLB pitchers with a 10.37 strikeouts/9 IP (min. 500 IP).
• St. Louis sports a 53-46 overall record in Flaherty’s 99 career starts. In his first 51 starts from his MLB debut (9/1/2017) until the 2019 All-Star Break, St. Louis went 21-30 (.412). In his last 46 starts (July 16, 2019-present), St. Louis is 32-16 (.667).
• In 99 career starts, is 34-10 when receiving 2+ runs of support, 27-2 when receiving 3+ runs, and 23-0 with 4+ runs of support. Has received 2 or fewer runs of support in 59 of 99 (59.6%) career starts.
LAST TIME OUT
• Threw 5.0 innings of no-hit ball while issuing a career-high seven walks and escaping a 1st inning bases loaded jam to earn his first win of the season. The start was at a temperatures of 46 degrees at game time, 3rd-lowest of his career.
DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
4/1 TOR W 4-1 W-1 5.0 0 0 0 7 4 0 95-49
2022
• Notched his 600th career strikeout in a 1.0-inning relief outing for his final regular season appearance on 10/4 at Pittsburgh, becoming the 31st Cardinals pitcher to reach that milestone and in 523.1 IP is the fastest to reach the mark in club history.
• Posted season highs in strikeouts (9), innings pitched (6.0) and pitches thrown (99) in a 5-4 win at SD (9/22) for his first win of the season and since 8/13/21 at KC.
• Returned to the Busch Stadium mound on 9/5 vs. WSH for the first time since June 26 and worked 5.0 IP, allowing one run on six hits. Took the loss, as the Cardinals were blanked, 6-0, by the Nationals, managing just 3 hits.
• Previously was activated from the 60-day Injured List on June 15 and made his season debut vs. Pirates. Took ND in Cardinals 6-4 loss, allowing 3 unearned runs (4 total) in his 3.0 IP while throwing 60 pitches.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME: Is game 4 (3-0) of a 6-game, 7-day homestand against New YorkNL (3-0) and St. Louis (3g)…..following this homestand, the team takes a 10-game road trip to Arizona (3g), San Diego (4g) and Seattle (3g).
CURRENT ROSTER (bold indicates not on Opening Day roster):
PITCHERS (13) – RH Corbin Burnes, RH Matt Bush, RH Javy Guerra, LH Eric Lauer, LH Wade Miley, LH Hoby Milner, RH Joel Payamps, RH Freddy Peralta, RH Peter Strzelecki, RH Gus Varland, RH Devin Williams, RH Bryse Wilson, RH Brandon Woodruff
CATCHERS (2) – Victor Caratini, William Contreras
INFIELDERS (7) – Willy Adames, Brian Anderson, Mike Brosseau, Owen Miller, Rowdy Tellez, Brice Turang, Luke Voit OUTFIELDERS (4) – Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer, Jesse Winker, Christian Yelich
IN THE TRAINER’S ROOM: RHP Jason Alexander (right rotator cuff), LHP Aaron Ashby (left labrum), RHP Adrian Houser (right groin), OF Tyrone Taylor (right elbow), INF Luis Urías (left hamstring) and LHP Justin Wilson (left elbow) are on the injured list….. Alexander and Wilson are on the 60-day IL.
THE NEW BREW: INF/OF Brian Anderson (free agent), C William Contreras (trade with ATL), RHP Javy Guerra (trade with TB), LHP Wade Miley (free agent), INF/OF Owen Miller (trade with CLE), RHP Joel Payamps (trade with OAK), RHP Gus Varland (Rule 5 Draft from LAD), 1B Luke Voit (free agent), RHP Bryse Wilson (trade with PIT) and OF Jesse Winker (trade with SEA).
TONIGHT’S STARTER: #53 – RHP BRANDON WOODRUFF (1gs, 0-0, 1.50)
WOODRUFF AT A GLANCE: Brandon Woodruff, 30, will make his second start of the season…..he made his season debut last Saturday at Chicago-NL and received no decision in the Brewers’ 3-1 win (6ip, 3h, 1r, 1er, 1bb, 8k, 1hr, 97 pitches)…..he is 8-1 with a 2.33 ERA over his last 19 starts dating back to last season (115.2ip, 30er)…..Woodruff was selected by Milwaukee in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Mississippi State University…..he is under club control through 2024.
LAST SEASON: Woodruff went 13-4 with a 3.05 ERA in 27 starts last season…..he led the team with a career-high 13 wins…..the team went 19-8 in his starts…..he made 15 quality starts…..he held opponents to a .215 batting average with 190 strikeouts in 153.1 innings…..Woodruff missed a month while on the 15-day injured list from 5/30-6/27 with a right ankle sprain and Raynaud’s syndrome affecting his pitching fingers…..he went 8-1 with a 2.38 ERA in 18 starts after coming off the injured list (109.2ip, 29er).
CAREER: Is 41-25 with a 3.17 ERA in 120 games/105 starts (619.1ip, 218er)…..is in his seventh MLB season, all with the Brewers (2017-23)…..was a 2019 and 2021 All-Star.
CAREER AT AMERICAN FAMILY FIELD: Is 23-8 with a 2.97 ERA in 60 games/53 starts (318ip, 105er)…..went 8-0 with a 2.06 ERA in 13 starts last season (78.2ip, 18er).
CAREER ON THE ROAD: Is 18-17 with a 3.38 ERA in 60 games/52 starts (301.1ip, 113er)…..went 5-4 with an 4.10 ERA in 14 starts last season (74.2ip, 34er).
CAREER vs. CARDINALS: Is 5-4 with a 2.74 ERA in 13 games/11 starts (65.2ip, 20er), including 2-1 with a 1.20 ERA in 3 starts last season (15ip, 2er)…..he tossed 6.0 shutout innings in his last outing vs. St. Louis last September 28 in Milwaukee as he earned a 5-1 win…..he allowed 6 hits in the contest, walking just one batter and striking out 10.
