First pitch: Wednesday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Line: St. Louis -125, New York +115, Total: 7.5

The Yankees and Cardinals square off Wednesday in the rubber match of their three-game set on Wednesday night.

It’s been an up-and-down season for New York so far in 2014 as many new faces have arrived and the club has been hit hard with the injury bug. Although the Yankees have won three of their past four games, they have really struggled offensively in the past week, hitting only .212 as a team over the past seven contests. They could not get anything going on Tuesday night, getting shut out by a score of 6-0 by St. Louis and going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. 2B Yangervis Solarte (.285 BA) has been one of the better stories out of New York in the early going, but is 0-for-13 with two strikeouts in his past three games. St. Louis is heating up after a slow start to the year and has won 10 of its past 13 games with four straight series wins. It has been the pitching that has excelled recently, allowing only 2.6 runs and a .216 average in its past seven outings. Lance Lynn continued the strong performances by Cardinals’ starters on Tuesday, finishing his first career shutout in the victory. OF Matt Holliday (.282 BA) has not been putting up his typical power numbers, but has gone 8-for-15 with a double, home run and 3 RBI over the past four games. Toeing the rubber at the start of this game for the Yankees will be 39-year-old RHP Hiroki Kuroda (3-3, 4.55 ERA). Opposing him is RHP Shelby Miller (6-3, 3.18 ERA) who has earned a victory in five of his past six starts. New York has seemingly felt more comfortable so far on the road this season; putting together a 16-13 record in those games while St. Louis is a very impressive 15-9 in front of its home faithful. This is a rare matchup for both teams, as this is the first series against each other since the 2005 campaign. Some interesting trends for Wednesday's game include that Kuroda's team has gone 24-8 (.750) when he is facing an NL Central opponent in his career, while the Yankees are just 10-19 (.345) in night games since the start of last year when Kuroda pitches. On the injury front, New York continues to be without the services of OF Carlos Beltran (elbow), while the Cardinals have no regulars out.

Hiroki Kuroda has certainly not looked like his usual self this year, as he has posted a sub-3.80 ERA in each of his previous six seasons in the majors. The big difference so far this year has been home runs, as he has already given up nine homers in his first 59.1 innings on the mound while still having a very solid 46:11 K/BB ratio. Kuroda threw 100 pitches before getting through five innings in his last outing against the White Sox and earned a no-decision after pitching 4.2 frames while allowing four runs (2 ER) on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He has faced the Cardinals five times in his career and is 1-2 (3-2 team record) with a 3.19 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, while striking out just seven batters and allowing 18 hits over his past two starts (12 IP). OF Matt Holliday has had Kuroda’s number over the years, going 11-for-26 (.423) against him with three doubles, a homer and 7 RBI. On the other hand, C Yadier Molina (2-for-11, 3 K’s) and SS Jhonny Peralta (1-for-6, 2 K’s) have really done poorly in this matchup. New York’s bullpen has looked solid this year, going 8-9 with a 3.76 ERA and 1.26 WHIP, while converting saves at a 71% clip (17-for-24). David Robertson (2.40 ERA, 11 saves) already has 23 strikeouts in his first 15 frames, but has also allowed two home runs while going 11-for-12 in save attempts.

Shelby Miller is yet another tremendous player that has come out of the Cardinals’ system and has been a great option for them in the rotation for the past two seasons. There are some worries this year though, as his strikeout rate has dropped from 8.8 K/9 last season to 7.2 K/9 this year while seeing his walk rate go from 3.0 BB/9 in 2013 to 4.8 BB/9 in 2014. He has also been burned by the long ball with nine homers allowed in 56.2 frames this year. Miller has been strong at home, going 3-1 with a 2.19 ERA, but has just a 17:12 K/BB ratio leading to a mediocre 1.34 WHIP. His last outing in St. Louis came against the Braves on May 17 when he threw seven strong frames, allowing one unearned run on five hits and two walks while striking out seven. He has yet to face the Yankees in his young career, and is getting them at the right time, as no regular in the lineup is hitting better than .290 with some of their top bats going through tough slumps. OF Jacoby Ellsbury started the year out hot, but is just 6-for-37 (.162) with 11 strikeouts over the past 10 games while C Brian McCann is only 5-for-27 (.185) with a homer and 5 RBI over his past 10 contests. The bullpen for St. Louis has a 4-9 record this year with a 3.94 ERA and 1.22 WHIP, while converting 15-of-22 saves (68%). Closer Trevor Rosenthal (4.32 ERA, 15 saves) has blown two saves this year while already walking 14 batters in his first 25 innings on the mound.