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After a day off on Monday to travel from San Francisco, the Cardinals are in Chicago for some interleague action. At Guaranteed Rate Field, St. Louis will meet the White Sox for a two-game series.
Entering Tuesday, the 46-43 Cardinals sit seven games out of the National League Central lead behind the first-place, 54-37 Brewers. The White Sox has lost five in a row, are 2-8 in their last 10 games, and have a 30-60 record - 19.5 back of the American League Central-leading Indians.
In Tuesday’s game, a 7:10 PM Central time start, Chicago will send Dylan Covey to the mound to face St. Louis’s Miles Mikolas. Covey has allowed 14 earned runs over his last two starts (a total of six innings), including six in 3 2⁄3 frames against the Reds his last time out, on the 4th of July. In 10 starts for the White Sox this season, Covey has a 4.71 FIP in 50 1⁄3 innings.
Mikolas was named to his first All-Star team this season, and he enters his Tuesday assignment at 9-3 with a 2.63 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 17 games and starts for the Cardinals in 2018. Six of Mikolas’s last seven starts, dating back to 6/1, have been quality. Although he has pitched well all-around, Mikolas has not been as sharp on the road. In 54 2⁄3 innings away from Busch (Fact: he has logged the same number at home), Mikolas has walked 13 batters and surrendered seven home runs; he has 17 walks and eight home runs allowed for the season thus far.
Wednesday’s contest is set to feature Carlos Rodon and Luke Weaver in another 7:10 PM start. The left-handed Rodon, a 2014 first-round pick, returned from his shoulder injury early in June after missing the first months of the season. In six starts since his return, Rodon has 28 punchouts in 35 2⁄3 frames with a .230 BAA. This will be Rodon’s first interleague start of the season and his second career outing against the Cardinals. Rodon faced St. Louis in July of 2015.
After a June to forget, Weaver commenced July on a positive note. In his 7/5 outing at AT&T Park, Weaver twirled eight innings of two-run ball with seven strikeouts. For the 24-year-old, it was the longest outing of his Major League career and longest of 2018 since a pair of seven-inning performances in late May. Weaver has a 4.14 FIP in a team-high 18 starts entering the series.