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Red-hot Pirates face struggling Cards Monday
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 4/17/2017  at  3:50:00 AM
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PITTSBURGH PIRATES (6-6)

at ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (3-9)

First pitch: Monday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Pittsburgh +115, St. Louis -125, Total: 8.0

The Pirates will be going for their fourth straight win when they face the Cardinals in St. Louis on Monday.

Pittsburgh and St. Louis are heading in opposite directions coming into this Monday night matchup. The Pirates have won three straight games coming into this one and the Cardinals have lost three straight. Pittsburgh just swept Chicago at Wrigley last series, and St. Louis was swept by New York at Yankee Stadium. The Pirates have had it going offensively recently, scoring a total of 18 runs over the past three games. The Cardinals, meanwhile, scored only eight in the series against the Yankees. St. Louis will need to get the bats going against Pittsburgh or it will be a tough series for the team. The Cardinals do, however, have the recent success in this head-to-head series over the years. Over the past three seasons, St. Louis is 20-18 against Pittsburgh and that includes an 11-8 record when playing at home. The starters in this one will be RHP Ivan Nova (1-1. 2.25 ERA, 5 K) for the Pirates and RHP Lance Lynn (0-1, 5.23 ERA, 8 K) for the Cardinals. One trend that sticks out when looking at this game is that home teams that are batting .190 or worse over their past three games - that are also coming off of a game where their bullpen allowed five or more earned runs - are 13-35 over the past five seasons. OF Gregory Polanco (Groin) is one notable player dealing with an injury. He is day-to-day right now, as he is dealing with some serious discomfort at the moment.

Ivan Nova was brilliant after being acquired by the Pirates near last season’s trade deadline, and he has picked up 2017 right where he left off. Although he is just 1-1 on the year so far, Nova has allowed only three runs in 12 innings of work. He has been a quality start machine for the Pirates over the past two seasons, and he will be hoping for a similar outing when he takes the mound on Monday. It’s worth noting that his best work as a Pirate has come at PNC Park, so he should be confident at the very least. Offensively, three guys that will be looking forward to facing Lynn in this game are 2B Josh Harrison (.270 BA, 1 HR, 3 RBI), OF Starling Marte (.260 BA, 2 HR, 7 RBI), and OF Gregory Polanco (.278 BA, 0 HR, 1 RBI). As previously mentioned, Polanco is listed as questionable for this game. It’d be big if he can play though, as the three of them are a combined 20-for-57 with five doubles against Lynn in their careers. OF Andrew McCutchen (.250 BA, 2 HR, 7 RBI) is also worth mentioning coming into this one. Over the past four games, McCutchen has two homers, a triple and six RBI. He is feeling good at the plate and could do some damage here.

Lance Lynn is off to a pretty brutal start for the Cardinals this season, as he has failed to pitch into the seventh inning of a single game this year. The same can be said for Nova, but the Pirates’ righty consistently gets them to the seventh inning with leads. Lynn, meanwhile, is coming off of a game where he allowed six runs (four earned) in 5.0 innings of work. He allowed three homers in that loss to the Nationals, and it’s important he finds a way to avoid mistakes in this one. If he can’t keep the ball down and find his control then the Cardinals are not going to have a chance in this one. Offensively, OF Dexter Fowler (.143 BA, 0 HR, 0 RBI) is a good bet to break out of his slump in this one. He is 2-for-3 in his career against Nova, so it’s not out of the question that he’ll have his first multi-hit game of 2017. C Yadier Molina (.229 BA, 1 HR, 6 RBI) is another player to watch in this one. He was 1-for-3 with a homer against the Yankees on Sunday night and that might just be the game he needed to get himself going.


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