Winners of six out of their last eight games the St. Louis Cardinals are slowly but surely reeling in the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central standings. At one point in the season the Cubs held a 5 1/2 game lead in the standings but have seen the lead diminish as of late.
St. Louis and Chicago kicked off their five game series on Friday which led to the Cubs winning 4-1 in the first game, but then the Cardinals responded with winning both games of the double header on Saturday and a convincing victory on Sunday.
The Cardinals will send right-hander Johan Oviedo to the hill who will be making his fourth start of the season. Oviedo has pitched 14.2 innings allowing nine hits while sporting a 4.30 ERA. The Cubs will start Kyle Hendricks who will be making his ninth start of the season and is 4-4 with a 3.78 ERA.
Cardinals Only 1.5 Games Behind Cubs
The St. Louis Cardinals have pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Chicago Cubs, and will attempt to make it four in a row against their NL Central division foes. After the Cubs won the opener on Friday 4-1 the Cardinals were able to sweep the doubleheader on Saturday and a 7-3 victory on Sunday.
"We're always taking care of our business and we put our head down and we play regardless of where we are," manager Mike Shildt told ESPN.com. "I think we've proven that, and that's a good trait for this group.
The Cardinals were able to get to Chicago's starter Jon Lester early on Sunday. Lester only completed 3.1 innings of work and gave up six hits to go with five earned runs. Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run homer in the third inning that actually left Wrigley Field in its entirety. Since arriving in Chicago the St. Louis offense is averaging five runs per game after totaling seven runs in Sunday's contest.
Right-hander Johan Oviedo will start the series finale on Monday, and he is looking for his first major league win in his fourth start. Oviedo faced the Cubs on Aug. 19 and was able to record five innings of work surrendering two hits and two earned runs.
Chicago Trying to Avoid 4th Straight Loss
Perhaps no other team was off to a better start to the shortened MLB season than the Chicago Cubs which shot off to a 13-3 start. In their last 13 games the Cubs have only managed five wins, and the season slump is officially on.
The end goal for Chicago is to obviously win another World Series, but the short term focus has to be to keep the NL Central division lead. Once a lead of 5 1/2 games, the Cubs have seen this lead evaporate down to only 1 1/2 games with 19 to play.
"You get in the playoffs and try to be the best version of yourself to win a World Series, whatever path it is that we take." said Cubs manager David Ross in an interview on MLB.com.
Kyle Hendricks was able to go his usual six innings in his last start on Wednesday against the Pirates where he gave up six hits and one earned run. Back on Aug. 17 Hendricks went 6.1 innings versus the Cardinals allowing seven hits and only one earned run.
Notable Trends
- Cubs are 4-0 in their last 4 during game 5 of a series.
- Cubs are 8-1 in their last 9 Monday games.
- Cardinals are 1-4 in their last 5 during game 5 of a series.
