Mike Leake (2-3, 4.66 ERA) and Robbie Ray (2-2, 4.46 ERA) start in the second of a three-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals (22-20) and the Arizona Diamondbacks (20-24) at Busch Stadium. The Diamondbacks won the last game 11-7, and Arizona leads the series 1-0. Action begins at 4:05 p.m. ET on Saturday, May. 21 and can be seen on FS1, FSAZ and FSMW.
Leake pitched 6.0 innings in his most recent start, surrendering one run, striking out three and walking two in a 5-2 win over the Dodgers. Aledmys Diaz (.373, 29 Rs, 6 HRs, 23 RBIs, 1 SB) had another good game yesterday, going 2 for 5 with one run and two RBIs. Ray went 7.0 innings, surrendering two runs, striking out six and walking one in a 12-2 win over the Yankees in his last outing. Jake Lamb (.273, 20 Rs, 6 HRs, 23 RBIs, 2 SBs) has been successful at the plate, going 2 for 5 yesterday with two runs.
Notes
When leading after seven innings, St. Louis is 13-10, while Arizona is 10-13.
The Diamondbacks are coming into this meeting after a high-scoring game where they scored an impressive 11 runs. The Cardinals have a 0-2 record when opponents score that many runs or more.
When they outhit their opponents, the Diamondbacks are 14-6. The Cardinals have a 19-3 record when outhitting opponents.
St. Louis and Arizona both rank in the top five of the league in runs. St. Louis sits at second with 235 runs this season and Arizona ranks fourth with 205.
Ranking seventh, Arizona is in the top 10 of the league for its on-base plus slugging percentage (.781). St. Louis ranks in the top five at second with an OPS of .810.
When the Diamondbacks allow at least one home run, they are 6-20. When the Cardinals allow one or more homers, they have a 12-15 record.
