Jaime Garcia (3-2, 2.58 ERA) is on the hill for the St. Louis Cardinals (20-18) as they square off against Chad Bettis (3-2, 4.56 ERA) and the Colorado Rockies (19-18) in the first of a three-game series at Busch Stadium. Action begins at 8:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May. 17 and can be seen on FSMW and RTRM.
Garcia pitched 7.0 innings in his most recent start, surrendering two runs (two unearned), striking out eight and walking one in a 5-2 win over the Angels. Jeremy Hazelbaker (.281, 15 Rs, 7 HRs, 18 RBIs, 3 SBs) went 1 for 4 Sunday with one run. Bettis went 6.1 innings, surrendering four runs and striking out eight in an 8-7 win over the Diamondbacks in his last outing. Trevor Story (.280, 25 Rs, 11 HRs, 28 RBIs, 3 SBs) went 1 for 4 Sunday.
Notes
When leading after seven innings, St. Louis is 12-8, while Colorado is 7-11.
The Rockies managed to give up four walks in their last game. They’ll have to pick it up against the Cardinals who are heading in with a 13-4 record against opponents who give up that many walks or more.
When they outhit their opponents, the Rockies are 15-4. The Cardinals have a 17-3 record when outhitting opponents.
Both falling in the top five of the league based on total runs this season, St. Louis ranks third with 212 runs and Colorado is fourth with 192.
St. Louis and Colorado both rank in the top five of the league for their on-base plus slugging percentage. St. Louis sits at second with an OPS of .818, and Colorado ranks third with an OPS of .804.
When the Rockies allow at least one home run, they are 9-15. When the Cardinals allow one or more homers, they have an 11-14 record.
