St. Louis Cardinals look to gain ground against Baltimore Orioles

Whereas the AL East has pretty much found the Orioles (65-49) in first place through the majority of the season, the same can’t be said for the NL Central, where the Cardinals (61-52) are in a tight four-team battle.

St. Louis (61-52) goes to Baltimore after compiling a recent a 4-2 home stand that included a victory last night against Boston with the hero being Kolten Wong, who homered twice while Adam Wainwright notched his 14th win.

Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said, “He’s got really impressive bat speed, always has. You don’t have to cheat. You just take the head of the bat to the ball and watch it jump.”

The Orioles have struggled of late, averaging just over 3 runs a game during the last week. Luckily, the pitching staff has come through with a 2.40 ERA during that stretch. Take for instance last night when Baltimore beat Toronto 2-1.

One area of good news for Baltimore is rookie catcher Caleb Joseph, who during his last four games went 6 for 14 with seven RBIs. He also homered in each game.

Joseph said, “We knew we had to come in and try to take care of business. “Taking two of three is gratifying because they’re coming after us hard.”

Pitching for the Orioles tonight will be Chris Tillman (8-5, 3.78), while the Cardinals have recently acquired Justin Masterson, who in his last three starts against Baltimore is 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA.

Considering Masterson’s recent troubles in Baltimore, the Orioles’ run line (+150) could be the play.