St. Louis Cardinals (87-63) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (103-46)
The St. Louis Cardinals head to Dodger Stadium in LA to open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers this Friday night, and the first pitch is set at 10:10 PM ET. These two National League foes meet for the second time this season, and the Dodgers outlasted the Cardinals 2-1 in a three-game series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis back in July.
The Dodgers are firm favorites for Friday’s battle against the Cards. Andrew Heaney (3-2; 2.66 ERA) is expected to take the mound for Los Angeles, while St. Louis will counter with Jose Quintana (5-6; 3.16 ERA).
Thursday’s games have been excluded from the analysis, and the St. Louis Cardinals were hoping to snap their three-game skid. They’ve also failed to score a single run in three straight games, losing to Cincinnati 3-0 and at San Diego 5-0 and 1-0 in the process. St. Louis has gone 11-8 in its first 19 contests in September while scoring just 69 runs on a poor .215/.294/.363 slash line.
On the other side of the ball, the Cards have registered a 3.49 ERA and 1.32 WHIP across 170 innings during that 19-game stretch. Their bullpen has thrown 26.2 frames in the last ten days and posted a shiny 1.35 ERA. St. Louis was topping the NL Central on Thursday, seven and a half games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers.
We've got a Thursday matinee in Sa n Diego! pic.twitter.com/23yWWwKbwL
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) September 22, 2022
Jose Quintana has already met the Dodgers twice this season as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He’s gone 1-0, allowing just a couple of runs on nine hits and five walks across 10.1 innings of work. Since joining the Cardinals at the trade deadline, the veteran lefty has registered a sharp 2.44 ERA and 2.80 FIP in nine starts and 48 innings pitched.
Quintana has allowed only four earned runs over his previous four appearances. Last Saturday, Jose tossed eight shutout innings in a no-decision against the Cincinnati Reds, piling up six strikeouts and yielding just two hits.