ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
RECENT REDBIRDS: The St. Louis Cardinals continue a six-game road trip through Pittsburgh and Texas with the second of a three-game series against the Pirates today at PNC Park. This is the Cardinals first of two visits to the Steel City, returning August 21-23. Earlier this season, the Cardinals split a four-game series with Pittsburgh at Busch Stadium (Apr. 13-16). Pittsburgh leads the season series 3-2 following last night’s come-from-behind 7-5 win. Following tomorrow morning’s game, the Cardinals will fly to Texas to play their first games at Globe Life Park, which was established in 2020.
MUTINY!: Prior to last night’s 7-5 loss to the Pirates, in which St. Louis held a 5-0 lead, the most recent time the Cardinals blew a lead of five runs or more after the 6th inning was July 13, 2022, when they led the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-0 after six innings at Busch Stadium and fell 7-6, as the Dodgers scored two in the 7th, three in the 8th and two in the 9th.
REDBEARD’S REVENGE: Of the Cardinals last eight losses at PNC Park dating back to 2018, seven have came after St. Louis held a lead.
REDBIRD RESURGENCE: Since May 7, the Cardinals have posted the 2nd-best record in the National League at 15-9, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers and trailing the Arizona Diamondbacks (16-9, .640).
VICTORY BLUES: The Cardinals play their fifth game this season while wearing their Victory Blue Uniforms. Since the beginning of last season, St. Louis has an MLB-best 26 wins on Saturday (26-11, .702), including a 12-6 mark on the road (10-5 in blue uniforms). This season, the Cardinals have posted wins at Boston (5/13) and Cleveland (5/27) in the blues and lost at Seattle (4/22) and Los Angeles-NL (4/29).
FLIGHT PATTERN: Entering today, the Cardinals are in last place in the National League Central, 5.5 games behind first place Milwaukee and one game behind fourth place Chicago. St. Louis began the season 10-24 before going on its current 15-9 run. They spent 24 days in last place from April 26-May 19 and 38 days of the 64 days in the cellar on the 2023 Major League schedule.
STRANDED!: Last night, the Cardinals left 12 runners on base including the bases loaded in three consecutive innings (5th-7th). The 12 LOB matched their season high for the 3rd time. St. Louis ranks 7th in MLB in left on base. In their 11 games stranding double-digit runners, the Cardinals are 3-8, with their last win at Boston (May 14, 10 LOB) and previous 10+ LOB game at CIN (5/22).
THE FULL MONTY: Jordan Montgomery is attempting to break a streak of nine straight starts without recording a win. His last win was came on April 8 at Milwaukee in which he fired 7.0 scoreless innings at American Family Field. Montgomery has never gone 10 consecutive starts without a winning decision and tied his longest streak matching the nine to begin the 2022 season with the Yankees, before earning a win vs. the Angels on May 31. Steven Matz currently holds the longest active streak of winless starts at 10, but current Pirate and former Cardinal Johan Oviedo, holds the Cardinals record at 19 with Daniel Ponce de Leon.
FRIENDLY WATERS: Since the Cardinals began their current four-season postseason run back in 2019, they are 26-8 (.765) at PNC Park, the most wins and highest winning percentage at the ballpark of any team with more than two series played (Toronto 6-0, Seattle 3-0). Last season, the Cardinals were 6-3 at PNC Park.
21-GUN SALUTE: Jordan Walker has recorded his first 21 career hits off 21 different pitchers, matching José Rondón, who accomplished
the feat in his only season in St. Louis in 2021. The highest mark for any MLB player to debut in the Expansion Era (since 1961) is 38
established by Peter O’Brien, whose first 38 hits while playing for Arizona and Miami (2015-19) came against 38 different pitchers
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: LHP JORDAN MONTGOMERY (2-6, 4.48)
TODAY’S GAME
NL Leaders: Losses (6, T-2nd); Hits (70, T-3rd)
- Makes his 12th start of the season and his 120th career (23rd as a member of the Cardinals).
- Needs six strikeouts for 600 career.
- Is trying to snap a career-high six-game losing streak, although the Cardinals have been shut out in three of his six losses. He has had three quality starts among his six defeats.
- The Cardinals have lost nine straight starts by Montgomery dating back to April 13 vs. Pittsburgh. He has never gone 10 consecutive starts without a winning decision in his MLB career (9 starts without a win to begin 2022 season w/NYY).
- Posted a 6.04 ERA in the month of May, his highest of any month in his career with more than one start and highest since a 5.90 ERA in five starts with the Yankees in September 2020.
- Has yet to throw 6.0 or more innings in his last four starts after tossing 6.0 or more in 5-of-his-first-7.
- Went seven consecutive starts (4/13-5/16) with three runs of support or fewer and three with zero (4/13, 4/24, 4/29).
- Is 8-9 with a 3.77 ERA in 22 starts as a member of the Cardinals. St. Louis won 10-of-his-first-14 starts, then has gone 0-9 since.
- Leads all Cardinals pitchers with 116 strikeouts since being acquired at the 2022 Trade Deadline (8/2/22); Miles Mikolas ranks 2nd with 106.
- Has not walked a left-handed batter since being acquired by the Cardinals (75 total batters faced). Is the only pitcher in MLB who has faced 70+ left-handed batters without a walk to a LHB since 8/1/22.
- Has held his opposition to three earned runs or fewer in 78% (93-of-119) of his career starts.
LAST TIME OUT
- Allowed a pair of runs in a no-decision in last Sunday’s road trip finale at Progressive Field as Cleveland scored two in the bottom of the 9th for a 4-3 loss. Exited with 3-2 lead and runner on second base with no outs.
- Cardinals lost for the 9th straight start by Montgomery dating back to April 13 vs. PIT.
DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
5/28 @CLE L 4-3 — 5.0 7 2 2 1 3 0 91-60
2023
- Allowed just two home runs in his first seven starts and back-to-back games with two home runs each at CHI (5/10) and vs. MIL (5/16). His streak of four straight starts with a home run is the 3rd-longest streak of his career (longest: 8, June 9-July 10, 2017).
- Has lost six straight decisions, surpassing his career-long of four prior to 2023. Last win came on 4/8 at MIL, tossing 7.0 scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a 6-0 win.
- Prior to his 5/10 start at Wrigley, he’d allowed just one earned run in three road games this season, fanning 22 in 19.2 IP. In seven career road starts with St. Louis, he’s allowed zero earned runs in three of those games.
- Took his first no-decision of the season as the Cardinals fell, 5-4, to the Detroit Tigers on 5/5. It was his team-leading 5th quality start, and 3rd-straight.
- Locked horns with Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers on 4/29 at Dodger Stadium… allowed just one run across 6.2 IP, but was handed his 4th-straight loss (1-0).
- Threw a season-high 107 pitches and limited the SF Giants to just one unearned run over his 6.0 IP on 4/24, but took the loss as Alex Cobb blanked the Cardinals, 4-0. It was just the 2nd road loss for Monty as a member of the Cardinals.
- Established a new career-high with a 15.0 inning scoreless streak from 4/2-13, surpassing his previous high of 14.2 IP.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES: Erased their 5-0 deficit with a 7-5 comeback win last night…Have won three straight games since falling under .500 (26-27) following their loss on 5/29 (the first time the team was under .500 since 4/2)…Won seven straight games from 4/17-23, their longest winning streak since 2018 (11 games)…Are 0.5 game behind the first place Brewers in the National League Central coming into today.
KE’BOOM: Ke’Bryan Hayes’ three-run homer last night was his second career go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later (his other three-run blast came in the ninth inning on May 28, 2022, at San Diego)…It was the fifth time a Pirate hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later this season.
LIVE BY THE SWORD: Ke’Bryan Hayes’ three-run homer followed by Josh Palacios’ first career blast was the 17th time this season the Pirates have connected for multiple home runs in a game…The Pirates are 15-2 when going deep multiple times in a game this season…The team’s only two losses came on May 10 vs. Colorado and May 29 at San Francisco.
ROSTER MOVES: The Pittsburgh Pirates selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Angel Perdomo (pronounced AHN-hell) from Triple-A Indianapolis and recalled right-handed pitcher Yerry De Los Santos…Chris Owings has been designated for assignment while Cody Bolton has been optioned to Triple-A…Perdomo will wear uniform No. 68…De Los Santos will wear uniform No. 57.
KEEPING UP WITH CUTCH’S MILESTONES: Andrew McCutchen is just one double shy of 400 in his career (his next double will also be his 300th as a Pirate)…McCutchen ranks seventh all-time in Pirates history in doubles (Hall-of-Famer Pie Traynor is sixth with 371).
CLOSING IN ON 2000 HITS: Andrew McCutchen also comes into today just three hits shy of 2000 in his career…McCutchen has recorded 1512 of his 1997 hits with the Pirates organization…McCutchen’s 1512 hits with Pittsburgh ranks 12th in team history…Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente is first with 3000 while Tommy Leach is 11th (1603).
GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Angel Perdomo went 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA (22.2ip/8er), 35 strikeouts and .167 batting average against (13-for-78) in 20 relief appearances this season with Indianapolis…He posted an 0.82 ERA (11.0ip/1er) and 15 punchouts in eight outings in May…Perdomo’s 35 strikeouts were tied for the 10th-most among International League relievers at the time of his promotion today.
37 BUCS: Angel Perdomo and Yerry De Los Santos will become the 38th and 39th different players to appear in a game this season for the Pirates when they make their season debuts…The A’s have used a Major-League leading 45 players this season while Houston and Toronto have used the fewest (32)…Last year the Pirates used a Major-League high 68 players.
AND THE WHIFF: Pittsburgh’s starting rotation has recorded 293 strikeouts this season…That ranks third in the National League and 11th in MLB…The only two National League teams with more strikeouts from its starting rotations are the Braves (321) and Marlins (316)…Last year Pittsburgh was tied for second-to-last in the National League with 655 strikeouts from its starting rotation.
LOVING LEFTIES: Rodolfo Castro comes into today ranked fourth in OPS (1.147) and slugging (.690) and seventh in batting (.362) among all National League players against left-handed pitchers (he’s 8-for-16 against southpaws since May 17)…Connor Joe ranks 10th among all National League players in slugging (.630) vs. lefties.
EARLY RISERS: Tomorrow the Pirates and Cardinals will be featured on Peacock at 11:35 a.m. in the game of the week… Pittsburgh had one 11:35 a.m. game last season that also came against the Cardinals on May 22.
BULLISH PEN: Pittsburgh’s bullpen has tossed a combined 12.2 scoreless innings in the last three games and comes into today ranked second in the National League in ERA (3.63)…The only team with a lower bullpen ERA are the Padres (3.21)… David Bednar is tied for the second-lowest ERA (1.23) among NL relievers while Yohan Ramirez ranks sixth (1.40), Dauri Moreta ranks 11th (1.80) and Colin Holderman is tied for 15th (2.08).
STARTING PITCHER – 48 – RHP LUIS ORTIZ
LUIS ORTIZ: The 24-year-old righthander will be making his fifth start of the season today…He was promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis on 5/9…He had a no-decision (5.0ip/3er) in his last start on Sunday at Seattle…He earned his first big league win in his start on 5/22 vs. Texas after allowing two runs in 7.2 innings of work…Entered 2023 as Pittsburgh’s No. 4 prospect by Baseball America.
vs. ST. LOUIS: 0-1 in one career start…Allowed six runs in 0.2 inning and lost a 13-3 decision against Jordan Montgomery on 10/1/22 at Busch Stadium.
