St. Louis will try to bounce back from a rough start to the second half of the season when it faces Toronto on Wednesday night. The Cardinals have lost three of their first four games since the All-Star break, including a 10-3 setback on Tuesday. Toronto has now won all four of its games to open the second half.
St. Louis has been an inconsistent team this season, which is why it has not been able to take control of the National League Central. The Cardinals used a nice stretch to get 10 games above the .500 mark in the middle of June, but they lost eight games in a 10-game stretch earlier this month. They were able to bounce back with five wins in their final seven contests prior to the All-Star break, but they have fallen back into a rut since then. St. Louis dropped two out of three in its series against Cincinnati over the weekend before getting blown out in Tuesday’s 10-3 decision. The Cardinals are three games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central, but they are a half-game ahead of Philadelphia for the final NL Wild Card spot.
Tonight is Albert Pujols' 3,027th career game, passing Stan Musial & Eddie Murray for 6th all-time in MLB history. pic.twitter .com/Qzjmv1XKYY
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 27, 2022
They have been a solid offensive team, ranked ninth in the MLB in batting average (.251). First baseman Paul Goldschmidt leads the way with 118 hits, including 24 home runs. He will be facing a Toronto pitching staff that is No. 16 with an ERA of 3.93. Veteran right-hander Adam Wainwright is going to be on the mound for St. Louis on Wednesday night. He is coming off a terrible start, allowing seven earned runs on five hits and three walks across 5.1 innings against Cincinnati his last time out. Wainwright had allowed just five home runs through his first 13 starts of the season, but he has now allowed eight homers over his last six starts. He still has a strong 3.40 ERA and 91-34 strikeout-to-walk ratio overall this season, though.