ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
RECENT REDBIRDS: The St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks wrap up their three-game series with today’s rubber match at Chase Field … The Redbirds are 2-4 in their seven-game road trip through Chicago (1-3) and Arizona (1-1) … With a win today, the Cardinals will have won or split the season series with the Dbacks for the 20th time in 25 seasons.
ON DECK: St. Louis kicks off a season-long 10-game homestand tomorrow against the Chicago Cubs (July 27-30), Minnesota Twins (Aug. 1-3), and Colorado Rockies (Aug. 4-6) … The division-rival Cubs make only one visit to Busch Stadium this season, which is the latest in the season for their first game in St. Louis since Aug. 13-15, 2010.
FLIGHT PATTERN: St. Louis enters today in 4th place in the NL Central, 11.0 games behind 1st place Milwaukee and 10.0 games in the NL Wild Card race … The Cardinals have climbed out of the divisional basement for the first time since May 28 when they were last all alone in 5th place … St. Louis has spent 80 of 115 days in last place on this season’s MLB schedule (April 26-May 19 & May 29-July 7) … This season is the Cardinals slowest start since 1995 when they were 40-62 (.392) after 102 games … With 60 games remaining, the Cardinals need to go 36-24 (.600) the rest of the season to finish at .500.
IT’S WHACKING DAY: Since Arizona joined MLB as an expansion team in 1998, the Cardinals .616 win percentage (105-66) against the Diamondbacks is the their best against any opponent, the highest in MLB vs. the Snakes among National League and common interleague opponents, and the highest by any team against the last four expansion teams (Rockies, Marlins, Rays, Diamondbacks) RAZING ARIZONA: St. Louis is 51-35 (.593) all-time at Chase Field, the best win pct. by any annual visitor and the club’s 3rd-best winning pct. in any road city behind Kansas City (.667, 44-22 since 1997) and Miami (.630, 68-40 since 1993).
CARDS & CUBS PLAY IN ARIZONA FOR 2024 SPRING: The Cardinals announced their 2024 Spring Training schedule, a 32-game spring training slate set to begin on Feb, 24 against their stadium co-tenants, the Miami Marlins, at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium … The Cardinals will break camp on March 24 and then play the Chicago Cubs in a pair of Spring Training games (March 25-26) at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona before opening their 2024 regular season schedule on March 28 at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
BLOWN UP: The Cardinals bullpen blew another save last night to bring their total to an MLB-leading 24 on the season, which also matches their total of converted saves (24) … The Cardinals single-season record for blown saves in a season is 31 shared by the 2008 and 1998 clubs.
JACK ATTACK: Jack Flaherty has limited his opposition to a .218 career batting average over 121 games (117 starts) since making his MLB debut 2017, topping Bob Gibson (.228) for best among all Cardinals in the Live Ball Era (1920-present)… The last time Flaherty pitched in Arizona was Sept. 24, 2019, 19-inning, six-hour, 53-minute game as St. Louis fell 3-2 as two former Cardinals factored in the decision with Ildemaro Vargas singling home former Carson Kelly … Jack threw 7.0 scoreless that night, carrying a no-hitter through 6.0 innings before Eduardo Escobar broke it up with a single … Jack struck out a season-high 11, while his 7.0 scoreless continued his season-ending 19.0 scoreless innings streak.
GALLEN → OZUNA → BURLESON: The Cardinals selected RHP Zac Gallen in the 3rd round of the 2016 MLB Draft, and later packaged him with RHP Sandy Alcantara, RHP Daniel Castano and OF Magneuris Sierra in a trade to the Marlins in exchange for OF Marcell Ozuna (Dec. 14, 2017) … Two years later, Ozuna rejected a qualifying offer from St. Louis and signed with Atlanta, which gave the Cardinals the 70th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft … OF Alec Burleson was then selected 70th overall out of East Carolina University.
NOOT NEWS: In the month of July, Lars Nootbaar has reached base safely in 20 of 22 games while sharing the MLB lead in games played (22) with teammate Paul DeJong, ranking in 2nd runs scored (20) and for 3rd in walks (16).
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP JACK FLAHERTY (7-6, 4.39)
NL Ranks: Ground Into Double Plays (16, T-3rd), GIDP/9 IP (1.46, 1st), Walks (52, 2nd), HR/9 IP (0.77, 5th)
- Making his 20th start of the season and his 2nd this season against the Diamondbacks.
- Did not allow a home run over a career-high 56.1 innings from May 9-June 6, but has surrendered three home runs over his last two starts including a season-high two in one game in his last start at Wrigley FIeld (Bellinger & Mastrobuoni).
- Has held his opposition to a .218 career batting average, leading all Cardinals pitchers in the Live Ball Era (post-1920); Bob Gibson (.228, 2nd).
- Ranks T-3rd among National League pitchers with five wins (5-2) in day game starts (Justin Steele, CHI, 6 & Zack Wheeler, PHI, 6). Has also allowed 6-of-9 HR in day games this season.
- Surrendered a career-high 10 hits in back-to-back starts June 13 & 19, most consecutive by a Cardinals pitcher since Chris Carpenter had three straight in 2011 (4/29-5/10). Carpenter also recorded a win in one of those starts (at CHI, 5/10/11).
- Picked up his single-season high 16th GIDP in vs. MIA (7/6). He’s T-3rd in the NL in that category with Bryce Elder, ATL, two back of Logan Webb, SF (18). Leads the NL with 1.38 GIDP/9 IP.
- Has held his opposition to six hits or less in 11-of-19 starts (STL 8-3). Has five scoreless starts of 5.0 innings or more, T-5th in MLB trailing only Blake Snell (7), Nathan Eovaldi (7), Chris Bassitt (7) and Michael Wacha (6).
- Has walked 5+ batters in four of his 19 starts, ranking 2nd in NL walks (52). Has 30 straight starts with a walk. Last start without a walk was Aug. 13, 2021 at Kansas City. Jordan Montgomery has the next longest Cardinals active streak at 16 starts.
- Trails only Wainwright & DeJong in years of Cardinals service on 40-player roster.
- Missed a total of 122 games in 2022 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 13th among MLB pitchers with a 10.12 strikeouts/9 IP (min. 600 IP).
- St. Louis sports a 64-53 overall record in Flaherty’s 117 career starts. In his first 51 starts from his MLB debut (9/1/2017) until the 2019 All-Star Break, St. Louis went 21-31 (.413). In his last 67 starts (July 16, 2019-present), St. Louis is 43-23 (.651).
- In 117 career starts, Jack is 39-12 when receiving 2+ runs of support, 31-2 when receiving 3+ runs, and 27-0 with 4+ runs of support. Has received 2 or fewer runs of support in 68 of 117 (58.1%) career starts. Has 24 starts with zero runs of support.
LAST TIME OUT
- Took the loss pitching 6.0 innings allowing a season-high two home runs in 4-3 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Snapped his four-game win streak dating back to June 19.
DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
7/21 @CHI L 4-3 L-6 6.0 8 4 4 3 4 2 104-67
2023
- Had a 13.2 inning scoreless streak (3rd on STL this season) and a 56.1 inning homerless streak (2nd-longest active at the time) snapped on a home run by Dominic Smith in his last start vs. WSH (7/16).
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS NOTES:
No team release available.
