Preview: Cardinals at Astros

[August 16, 2016]  The St. Louis Cardinals regained some of their mojo by salvaging a series split against baseball's best team and look to carry the momentum into a two-game interleague series at the Houston Astros beginning Tuesday night. St. Louis is coming off a pair of dramatic wins at the Chicago Cubs, rallying for six runs in the eighth inning Saturday and five runs in the eighth the following day.

"We kind of know what our role is going forward," Cardinals outfielder Stephen Piscotty told reporters after his three-run homer put his team ahead to stay Sunday. "We're fighting for that wild-card spot. Hopefully, this gives us some momentum." St. Louis trails wild card leader Los Angeles by 3 1/2 games as it jockeys back-and-forth on a daily basis with Miami for the National League's final playoff slot. The series versus the Cardinals marks the only two home games in a stretch of 16 contests for Houston, which is 4 1/2 games behind Boston for the second wild card in the American League. Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel gets the nod in the series opener for the Astros against fellow left-hander Jaime Garcia.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals LH Jaime García (9-8, 3.93 ERA) vs. Astros LH Dallas Keuchel (7-11, 4.56)

Garcia has bounced back in strong fashion since the ill-fated decision to start him on three days' rest at Miami on July 30, when he was blasted for six runs in 3 1/3 innings. He tossed eight scoreless frames of three-hit ball against Atlanta on Aug. 5 and also went eight innings against Cincinnati last time out, permitting two runs on six hits. The Astros have been a nemesis for Garcia, who is 2-6 with a 6.15 ERA against them.

Keuchel is coming off his best performance of the season, going the distance and blanking the AL West-leading Texas Rangers on three hits. Although he was rocked for seven runs at Detroit on July 31, Keuchel had received a total of six runs of offensive support during a four-start winless drought prior to his last outing. Keuchel has made two appearances against St. Louis (none since 2013) and allowed eight runs in 6 2/3 innings.

WALK-OFFS

1. Cardinals LF Matt Holliday was scheduled to see a specialist Monday to evaluate his fractured right thumb.

2. Astros 2B Jose Altuve, who leads the majors with a .362 batting average, is hitting .364 in 26 games versus the Cardinals.

3. St. Louis leads the NL with 162 homers and has at least two in six straight games.

PREDICTION: Astros 4, Cardinals 3

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