With the St. Louis Cardinals coming to town this weekend, the Toronto Blue Jays are catching a huge break.
Not only are the Cardinals in the midst of one of the worst stretches of their season (3-7 record over their last 10 games), they won’t have their top two starting pitchers — Adam Wainwright and Michael Wacha — on the mound against a Blue Jays club that leads the league in runs scored.
Wainwright pitched Wednesday in St. Louis’ 5-2 victory over Kansas City, so he won’t be available to start during the three-game set at the Rogers Centre. That’s good news for Toronto as the 32-year-old is in the midst of another Cy Young calibre season.
The veteran right-hander is the model of consistency, having surpassed 198 innings in each of his last four full seasons. This year Wainwright has registered an 8-3 record with a 2.34 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 89 strikeouts and just 19 walks in 93.1 innings. Entering play Friday, he ranks fourth among all starting pitchers with 2.5 wins above replacement and, along with Wacha, ranks in the top 10 for lowest opponents’ OPS.
Blue Jays fans should be familiar with Wacha from St. Louis’s run to the World Series last October. The 22-year-old right-hander has built off that success so far in 2014. In 12 starts, he has recorded a 4-3 record with a 2.71 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 75 strikeouts, 19 walks in 73.1 innings.
Although the rest of the Cardinals rotation remains fairly effective, the Blue Jays – who lead the league in several hitting categories – have to feel fortunate to avoid Wainwright and Wacha in their lone matchup against St. Louis in 2014.
Where they sit
The Cardinals are in second place in the NL Central with a record of 31-30, but they remain five games back of the Milwaukee Brewers. The club has a 15-16 road record and has only one won series since sweeping Arizona from May 20-22.
The bats
The Cardinals have yet to find their power stroke. Entering Thursday, St. Louis has hit the second-fewest home runs in MLB this season with 32. As a comparison, Nelson Cruz of the Baltimore Orioles has already hit 21 home runs.
The Cardinals rank in the bottom-10 in runs scored and OPS one year after leading the NL in scoring. One player of note who has picked it up of late is Matt Carpenter, who is batting .306/.393/.393 after a slow start.
There’s been a noticeable lack of power coming from Matt Holliday, who has just three home runs in 266 plate appearances. Holliday has exceeded the 20-home run mark in every season since 2006.
The arms
For the majority of the last decade, the Cardinals have made starting pitching a key pillar of their success. It has continued in 2014 with Wainwright and Wacha anchoring the staff. As a team, St. Louis ranks in the top 10 in ERA (3.42) and only four teams have allowed fewer runs than the Cardinals.
Who the Jays will see
Lance Lynn (Friday): After posting very solid numbers in May (2.65 ERA with four wins in five stars), Lynn was lit up in his most recent start. The 27-year-old allowed four earned runs on eight hits and four walks in just 3.1 innings in a 8-0 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
Shelby Miller (Saturday): Miller is still a very young pitcher at 23 years of age, and has dealt with some consistency issues so far in 2014. After a fairly impressive stretch to start the campaign (3.15 ERA in April), Miller has allowed 15 earned runs over his last three starts.
Jaime Garcia (Sunday): Garcia missed the majority of the first two months with a shoulder injury before making his season debut on May 18. He has registered only one win in four starts, but has yet to allow a walk in 19.2 innings. He was shelled for six earned runs on eight hits in his last start against Kansas City.
