The Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals continue their 3-game series in St. Louis on Saturday afternoon. The Reds continue to try to build upon their closing momentum in the first half, having just taken two of three games in the Bronx against baseball's best team, the New York Yankees. Meanwhile, the Cardinals look to avoid falling too far behind the Brewers as they battle it out for the NL Central Division crown. The pitching matchup for Saturday will feature rookie lefty Nick Lodolo (2-2, 4.44) of the Reds squaring off against veteran righty Miles Mikolas (6-7, 2.62) of the Cardinals. First pitch is scheduled for 215pm EST.
The Cincinnati Reds continue to improve before baseball's eyes after a miserable start to 2022 when the team cleaned house in the offseason, losing their best starting pitcher and a majority of the team's power. Don't look now but the Reds have been a respectable team since May and are coming off a series with the New York Yankees in which they won two out of three games and lost the only game by a run in 10 innings. The team was over .500 in May, struggled in June and has now started the month of July at 8-6 heading into this series. On Friday night against the Cardinals, the Reds pitchers walked 8 Cardinals through the first seven innings which proved to be their downfall in a series-opening loss to the Cards.
Petition to move to the AL East!
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 15, 2022
The beleaguered Reds staff has held their own thus far in the month of July. The Reds are two games over .500 for the month heading into Friday night's game and have an ERA of 3.73. They have thrown 130.1 innings and allowed just 120 hits in the 14 games this month. On the mound on Saturday afternoon will be lefty Nick Lodolo. Lodolo has made five starts this season and has gotten progressively better as the year has gone on. In July, Lodolo has made two starts with a 1-0 record and an ERA of 2.79. Albeit on a smaller scale, Lodolo leads the Reds starters with a 12.2 K/9 ratio. He has faced the Cardinals once this season and picked up the victory in a 4-1 win. He went five innings and gave up six hits and three runs while striking out eight batters.