Pirates vs. Cardinals - 8/20/2021

Pittsburgh Pirates (42-79) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (62-58), August 20, 2021 @ 8:15 p.m.

Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Mo.

TV: AT&T Sports Pittsburgh

Radio: 93.7 The Fan

Cardinals SB Nation Site: Vivaelbirdos.com

Projected Starters

Pirates: Mitch Keller – RHP – (3-10) — 6.86 ERA – 60 total Ks

Cardinals: Miles Mikolas – RHP – (0-0) — 2.25 ERA — 3 total Ks

Probable Starting Lineups (subject to change)

Pirates

1. Ben Gamel — LF

2. Ke’Bryan Hayes — 3B

3. Bryan Reynolds — CF

4. Colin Moran — 1B

5. Jacob Stallings — C

6. Gregory Polanco — RF

7. Rodolfo Castro — 2B

8. Hoy Park — SS

9. Mitch Keller — P

Cardinals

1. Tommy Edman — 2B

2. Paul Goldschmidt — 1B

3. Nolan Arenado — 3B

4. Tyler O’Neill — LF

5. Yadier Molina — C

6. Lars Nootbaar — RF

7. Paul DeJong — SS

8. Harrison Bader — CF

9. Miles Mikolas — P

The Pittsburgh Pirates will look to snap out of a dreadful skid that has saw them lose five straight and 13 of their last 14 dating back to Aug. 4. Their scheduled starter – Mitch Keller – doesn’t exactly give fans a whole lot of hope, as he continues to struggle.

In his last outing, which came Aug. 14 against the Brewers, Keller (3-10, 6.86) gave up nine hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings, but surrendered just two earned runs, and his ERA actually went down – from 7.06.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas was just reinstated from the 60-day injured list and will be making just his second appearance of the season – and his second dating back to 2019. Mikolas missed the entire 2020 season after undergoing arm surgery, and that same forearm has caused him to miss most of the current campaign.

Mikolas, who turns 33 Monday, appeared in just one game this season, a start on May 22 against the Cubs, in which he went four innings and gave up three hits and an earned run.

Tonight is an important start for Mikolas, as the Cardinals are battling for a Wild Card spot. The Cardinals are on a bit of a roll, having won seven of their last 10 games, although they did drop two of three in their most recent series against Milwaukee earlier this week. That left St. Louis 3 1/3 games out of the second Wild Card spot.

NOTES: Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Chad Kuhl was reinstated from the COVID-IL and was available for Friday’s game. Mackey also reported that shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz, out for a while with an arm issue, was activated at Double-A Altoona.