Sunday Night Baseball will be in Boston this week as four-time World Series foes the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox wrap up their three-game series at Fenway Park. The Cardinals are trying to bounce back from a slow start while the Sox are hoping to stay in the hunt in a crowded AL East Division. The pitching matchup on Sunday night will be Cardinals' righty Miles Mikolas (1-1, 5.40) taking on Boston right-hander Corey Kluber (2-4, 6.29). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM EST.
If the St. Louis Cardinals hope to return to the playoffs in 2023, the team will need to start stringing together victories on a consistent basis. Heading into this series at Fenway Park, the Cardinals had won three of four after losing eight straight games to fall into last place in the NL Central Division. On Friday night, the Cardinals were able to get to Boston closer Hanley Jansen and pulled off a come-from-behind 8-6 win to make it four wins in five games. On Saturday afternoon the Cards once again came back in the 9th inning, this time from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3. Nolan Gorman doubled home the tying runs and scored the game-winner on a throwing error.
Vibe check: how we feeling, #STLCards fans? pic.twitter.com/SZPsuve7us
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 13, 2023
The Cardinals will hand the ball to righty Miles Mikolas in the series finale on Sunday night. Mikolas is 1-1 on the season with an ERA of 5.40 in eight starts. He's had just one quality start while allowing 57 hits in just 41.2 innings pitched. He has given up seven home runs in his eight starts and has a K/9 rate of 8.9. On the road, Mikolas is 1-0 in four starts with a 4.29 ERA. Mikolas hard-hit percentage has gone from 36% last year to 44% this season, which could explain his nearly two runs per game jump in ERA thus far.
Key Injuries: OF Tyler O'Neill is out.