Series Preview: Pirates at Cardinals

The Cardinals enter a four-game series with the Pirates having lost six of seven. Sitting at 19-10 through March and April, St. Louis is 2-6 in May.

They ran into a suddenly strong Cubs team, losing three at Wrigley Field last weekend, then dropped two of three at home to the Phillies — 11-1 and 5-0 losses — during the week.

The Cards are 1 1/2 games behind the National League Central-leading Cubs. The Pirates (17-16), coming off a disappointing split of two games with Texas are 3 1/2 back of the leaders.

Season Series: 2-0 Cardinals

At Pittsburgh

April 1: Cardinals 6, Pirates 5, 11 innings

April 3: Cardinals 5, Pirates 4, 10 innings

Schedule

Thursday, 7:45 p.m. — Joe Musgrove (1-3, 2.63 ERA) vs. Michael Wacha (2-0, 5.17), TV: AT&T SportsNet, MLB Network (out of market)

Friday, 8:15 p.m. — Trevor Williams (1-1, 3.74) vs. Adam Wainwright (3-3, 4.71), TV: AT&T SportsNet

Saturday, 2:15 p.m. — Jordan Lyles (2-1, 2.20) vs. Miles Mikolas (4-2, 4.02), TV: AT&T SportsNet

Sunday, 2:15 p.m. — TBD vs. Dakota Hudson (2-3, 4.63), TV: AT&T SportsNet

Cardinals

21-16 (20-17 Pythag, 4.89 RS/G, 4.54 RA/G)

Offense

Paul Goldschmidt (.240/.319/.445, 9 HR) is at the center of the Cardinals’ recent offensive struggles, without an extra-base hit since April 24. Kolten Wong (.237/.364/.395, 4 HR) has had a downturn, too, though it’s nothing a few games with the Pirates can’t fix. ... Paul DeJong (.329/.404/.587, 7 HR) is tops among Major League shortstops in fWAR. ... Dexter Fowler (.297/.413/.396, 1 HR) appears to be bouncing back a bit. Perhaps further stupid comments from John Mozeliak are not in the offing. ... Matt Carpenter (.206/.319/.353, 4 HR) is struggling, particularly on sliders.

Pitching

Michael Wacha, more like Michael Walk-a (6.03 BB/9). ... If Adam Wainwright (7.18 K/9, 3.47 BB/9) weren’t a longtime Cardinal, his reinvention, chugging along as an older, craftier pitcher, might be easier to root for. ... Miles Mikolas’ (5.36 K/9, 1.72 BB/9) strikeouts are down; his five in seven innings on Monday are a season-high. ... Jordan Hicks (12.15 K/9, 3.38 BB/9) appears to corralled his nasty heat. ... John Brebbia (10.02 K/9, 3.48 BB/9) has allowed two runs in 20 2-3 innings. ... He’s allowed three homers, but perhaps there’s something there for 27-year-old Geovany Gallegos (14.79 K/9, 2.57 BB/9).