ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
COASTAL CARDS: The St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers begin a three-game weekend series at Dodger Stadium tonight as St. Louis plays the final leg of its season-long 11-day, 10-game road trip along the Pacific coast through Seattle (1-2), San Francisco (1-3), and Los Angeles Dodgers … Since the Padres joined MLB as an expansion team in 1969, this marks just the 13th road trip in the Cardinals history to feature 10 or more games across three cities on the Pacific coast, but first involving an AL team.
FLIGHT PATTERN: St. Louis enters today in 5th place in the NL Central, 8.0 games behind first place Pittsburgh … Today’s game is the 11th of 16 straight against opponents from the NL and AL West Divisions (St. Louis is 68-59 combined vs. both West Divisions since 2019).
L.A. STORY: Tonight is the first of six straight vs. Major League teams the from Los Angeles area (April 28-30 at Dodger Stadium and May 2-4 vs. Angels at Busch Stadium) … The only other time St. Louis has played back-to-back series against the Dodgers and Angels was 2016: May 10-12 at Angel Stadium (3-0) and May 13-15 at Dodger Stadium (1-2).
STREAM TEAM: The Cardinals welcome the Apple TV+ national broadcast team of Wayne Randazzo, Dontrelle Willis, and Heidi Watney for their first nationally-televised Apple TV+ game of the season … St. Louis was 2-1 on Apple’s nationally televised streaming games in 2022, most recently on September 23, 2022 at Dodger Stadium, an 11-0 shutout win over the Dodgers highlighted by Albert Pujols hitting career home runs No. 699 and 700.
SERIES-LY?: St. Louis is the lone MLB team to be winless (0-8) in series openers this season, tying a franchise record of consecutive series-opening losses to begin a season (1988) … Overall this season, the Cardinals are 4-6 in the middle games of series and 6-2 in finales.
SHO-TIME & THE RYAN EXPRESS: Jack Flaherty has limited his opposition to six or fewer hits in 30 straight starts (Sept. 20, 2020-present), the longest active streak in MLB and longest streak in Cardinals history … Flaherty would tie Nolan Ryan (1991-92) and Shohei Ohtani (2018-21) for 5th place all-time in MLB history with a start of six hits or fewer tonight.
CORNERSTONE COMBO: Paul Goldschmidt (33 HR, 103 RBI) and Nolan Arenado (30 HR, 95 RBI) are the top two active leaders in home runs and RBI against the Dodgers … The duo is attempting to continue where Hall of Famer Stan “The Man” Musial left off, the all-time MLB leader against the Dodgers in runs (299), hits (522) RBI (270) and 3rd in home runs (74) … Goldy’s 33 dingers are his most against any opponent.
APRIL SHOWERS: Since MLB expanded to six divisions in 1994, the Cardinals have been in first or tied for first 11 times at the end of April in 28 seasons (excluding 2020) … Of the 17 seasons not in first place at the end of April, the Cardinals have appeared in seven postseasons (2022, 2021, 2014, 2004, 2002, 2001, 1996) … The largest deficit out of first at the end of the month was 6.0 games in 2016 to Chicago, with St. Louis being eliminated from postseason on the final day of the season … The furthest the Cards have been out of 1st place and still made the postseason was 2014, sporting a 15-14 record and 5.5 games back of Milwaukee, before holding off Pittsburgh on the final day of the season to win the division at 90-72. …BRING MAY FLOWERS: The 2002 Cards began 12-14 in April before rebounding to go 18-10 in May and make the postseason … The 1985 Cards were 8-11 in April, then went 93-50 to end their regular season.
WAR PAINT: RHP Adam Wainwright is scheduled to make his third rehab start on Sunday, throwing approximately 90 pitches for Triple-A Memphis vs. the Durham Bulls (AAA-Rays) at Durham Bulls Athletic Park … Wainwright has missed the first 26 games of the season due to a groin injury suffered in March while working out with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
SEEK & DESTROY: The Cardinals (286) rank 2nd in MLB in hard-hit balls (95+ mph) behind and Tampa Bay (292), and are tied with the Rays for 3rd in average exit velocity (90.2) behind the Yankees (90.3) and Braves (90.7).
LATE BIRDS: Since divisional play began in 1994, the Cardinals are 142-147 in night games in the Pacific Time Zone.
TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP JACK FLAHERTY (2-2, 3.29)
TONIGHT’S GAME
NL Ranks: Opponent BA (.200, T9th), Ground Into Double Plays (8, 1st), GIDP/9 IP (2.63,
1st*), Walks (19, 2nd), Hits/9 IP (5.93, 6th)
• Makes his 6th start of the season tonight and his 4th on the road with previous starts at MIL (4/7), COL (4/12) and SEA (4/23).
• Burbank, Calif., native has a career marks of a .139 opp. BA and 1.50 ERA in his five starts vs. his hometown team. Among pitchers with five or more starts vs. the Dodgers since they moved to Los Angeles in 1958, ranks 1st in opp. BA and 3rd in ERA.
• Has held his opposition to six hits or fewer in 30 consecutive starts dating back to Sept. 20, 2020, longest active streak in MLB and the longest streak in Cardinals history. Holds the top three streaks in Cardinals history (22 from 2019-20 & 21 in 2018). Will tie Shohei Ohtani and Nolan Ryan (31) for 5th place all-time in MLB history with a start of six hits or less today.
• Has walked just six batters over his last three starts after leading the National League with 13 walks over his first two starts of the season.
• Has the 5th-best Run Value on his Slider (-5) in MLB (C. Kershaw -6, V. Velasquez -6, A. Vasquez -6, B. Abreu -6).
• Needs nine strikeouts today to tie Howie Pollet (1941-51) for 26th all-time in Cardinals history, but would do it in about 840 less innings.
• Owns a career mark of 9-4, 3.31 ERA in 17 career starts in the month of April. Had his streak of 6-straight April winning decisions snapped in his 4/7 start at MIL, with his previous April loss also vs. MIL in 2019.
• Trails only Wainwright & DeJong in years of Cardinals service on 40-player roster.
• Has held his opposition to a .206 career batting average, ranking 15th among MLB pitchers with more than 500 career innings pitched in the Live Ball Era (post-1920); just behind Nolan Ryan (12th, .204), Sandy Koufax (13th, .205) and Joe Nathan (14th, .206).
• 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). Missed 88 games in 2021 with an oblique injury.
• Since becoming a full-time starting pitcher in 2018, ranks 16th among MLB pitchers with a 10.27 strikeouts/9 IP (min. 500 IP).
• St. Louis sports a 55-48 overall record in Flaherty’s 103 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 52 starts (July 16, 2019-present), St. Louis is 34-18 (.654).
• In 103 career starts, is 34-8 when receiving 2+ runs of support, 27-1 when receiving 3+ runs, and 23-0 with 4+ runs of support. Has received 2 or fewer runs of support in 62 of 103 (60.1%) career starts. Has 23 starts with zero runs of support.
• Is 20-14 in 51 career games (48 starts) at Busch Stadium. His .188 opponent batting average is the lowest in stadium history (min. 100 IP), while his 296 strikeouts (8th) and 2.86 ERA (10th) at Busch both rank in the Top 10 among all pitchers in the ballpark’s history (since 2006). Needs one strikeout to tie Kyle Lohse (297) for 7th all-time in stadium history.
LAST TIME OUT
• Earned his second win of the season and struck out a season-high nine batters allowing just three runs on five hits over 6.0 innings with a season-high 104 pitches. All the action but one single occurred in the first two innings. Ran his active MLB-leading streak of starts with six hits or less to 30, T-7th all-time in MLB history. Retired 12 of his last 13 batters including seven by strikeout.
DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
4/23 @SEA W 7-3 W-2 6.0 5 3 3 2 9 1 104-65
2023
• Took a 6-3 loss allowing four runs on four hits over a season-high 6.0 innings vs. ATL (4/17). Induced two double plays moving his National League leading total to seven on the season. Retired 10 consecutive batters from the 2nd-5th innings.
• Ran his streak of consecutive games with six hits or less to 27 in a 4-0 loss at MIL (4/7). Allowed just two runs on four hits. His 60th career start receiving two runs of support or less. Walked six batters in the game, first Cardinals pitcher to walk 6+ batters in consecutive games since Carlos Martínez (2018).
• Threw 5.0 innings of no-hit ball in his first start of the season vs. TOR (4/1), became the 16th pitcher since 1901 to issue seven walks in a scoreless and hitless outing of any length (Langs); and the 5th pitcher in Cardinals history to pitch exactly 5.0 innings without allowing a hit or a run in a start.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS NOTES:
ACTION AT THE RAVINE: The Dodgers dropped their final game of the road trip yesterday afternoon in Pittsburgh, mustering just five singles and falling to the Pirates, 6-2. Dodger lefty Julio Urías dropped the decision in his third consecutive start for the first time in his career, as he gave up six runs and seven hits in 5.2 innings. Jason Heyward went 2-for-3 with a run scored and collected his second multi-hit game for the Dodgers, who still finished the seven-game run with a winning record (4-3). Los Angeles begins play tonight in second place in the NL West, 1.0 game behind Arizona. Following the weekend series with St. Louis, the Dodgers will welcome in former shortstop Trea Turner and the Philadelphia Phillies for a three-game series to round out the homestand from Monday-Wednesday next week. After an off day on Thursday, Los Angeles begins a six-game road trip with the first of three vs. the San Diego Padres at Petco Park next Friday night. The Dodgers 13-13 mark through 26 games is their worst since coming in at 12-14 after the first 26 contests of the 2018 campaign. The club won the NL pennant that season. Los Angeles took two of three in both of their series with St. Louis last year and are now 8-5 against the Cards the last two seasons, including a 4-2 mark at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers allowed 13 stolen bases in the three-game series with Pittsburgh, as the Bucs fell one bag short of matching the record for the most steals vs. the Dodgers in a three-game series, which was 14 by the Boston Doves (Sept. 28-30, 1908.)
The Dodgers have had more steals attempted against them than any other team in baseball (44) and the club has yielded 38 stolen bases, 10 more than the next ML squad (Padres, 28).
BIG RED: Dodger right-hander Dustin May will take the mound for his sixth start tonight, equaling the number of starts he made in 2022. May will also toe the rubber against the Cardinals for just the second time in his career, following a start on Aug. 7, 2019 at Dodger Stadium (5.2 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 7 K). With a victory this evening, May would match his career high in wins with three. The native of Texas also won three games in 2020. Among qualified pitchers, May ranks fifth in WHIP (0.92), third in opponent’s batting average (.167) and third in opponents’ OPS (.499). This Monday, May 1, the first 40,000 fans in attendance will receive a Dustin May bobblehead, presented by Security Benefit.
APPLE OF OUR EYE: Rookie James Outman went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts yesterday, marking the first time in his young career he has fanned four times in a game. He has still hit safely in seven of his last 10 games and is batting .317 (13-for-41) with four doubles, four homers and nine RBI during that span. Outman currently leads all rookies in homers (7), RBI (19), slugging (.644), OPS (1.011), triples (3), extra-base hits (14), total bases (56) and he is tied for second in runs (15) with Josh Jung and Ji Hwan Bae., trailing just Corbin Carroll (17). Outman’s seven homers this month are the most by a Dodger Rookie since Will Smith clubbed eight homers in August of 2019. Last Saturday, Outman became the first Dodger rookie ever to club 6+ homers in March/April, passing Alex Guerrero and Joe Ferguson for the all-time mark in those two months. He is currently tied for 8th all-time in homers in a month by a rookie – Cody Bellinger holds the all-time mark with 13 in the month of June (2017).
Most Rookie Homers – March/April
2022 James Outman 7
2015 Alex Guerrero 5
1973 Joe Ferguson 5
Tonight, Outman will be featured on the Dodgers’ Apple TV Broadcast as he will wear a mic for the home squad as the Dodgers make their 2023 debut on the telecast.
LONG BALLS: The Dodgers failed to homer yesterday, marking just the fifth time in 26 games the club hasn’t gone deep. Los Angeles has hit 45 homers on the season and trails only Tampa Bay (51) for the Major League lead. The Dodgers have recorded 3+ homers in nine games this season, which is tied with the Rays for the big league lead. The Dodgers are second in the League with 21 games with at least one homer, behind the Rays (23), who have homered in all but three games this season.
TONIGHT’S STARTER vs. CARDINALS: RHP DUSTIN MAY (2-1, 3.07 ERA in 5 GS)
2023 NOTES:
• Notched his second win of the season on April 22 in Chicago against the Cubs, firing 5.1 innings and giving up only two hits, two runs, and three walks with six strikeouts (season-high)
• Ranks fifth in the National League in WHIP at 0.92 and third in the NL in opponents’ batting average at .167
• Texas native took the mound in five games (four starts) during Cactus League play, posting a 5-4 record with 2.95 ERA (6 ER/18.1 IP) and 20
strikeouts against just seven walks
• Pitched in Spring Training for the first time since 2021…missed 2022 while recovering from Tommy John surgery
vs. CARDINALS:
• Will face the Cardinals for the second time in his career
• Last faced St. Louis on August 7, 2019, tossing 5.2 innings and giving up five hits, one run, one home run and one walk while striking out seven in what was his second Major League start
