Series Preview 5/24-26: Braves vs. Cardinals

After splitting a weather-forced doubleheader with the Royals on Wednesday, the Cardinals were off on Thursday and enter the weekend with a 25-24 record. The Braves, who are 28-23 after winning 10 of 13 games, are in St. Louis to open a three-game series.

The Cardinals enter the series in fourth place in the Central, 4 ¹⁄₂ games back of the Cubs. The Braves are in second in the East, just 1 ¹⁄₂ games behind the Phillies. The Cardinals will be in Philadelphia on Tuesday, 5/28, for three games.

In the series opener on Friday evening, Miles Mikolas and Mike Foltynewicz will be the mound matchup. Mikolas is ready to get back on track after one of the worst starts of his career last Friday in Texas. Mikolas was pulled in the second inning of that game, with the Rangers already up by seven runs. Before his start in Texas, Mikolas had allowed just three runs over his last 20 innings of work.

This will be Foltynewicz’s sixth start of the season and second against the Cardinals. Foltynewicz was on the hill when the Cardinals won their only game in Atlanta, where Yadier Molina, Marcell Ozuna, and Dexter Fowler took the 27-year-old deep. This will be Foltynewicz’s second road start of 2019; last year, he had a 2.48 ERA with 97 strikeouts in 15 starts outside of Georgia

Saturday’s contest will feature Dakota Hudson and Mike Soroka. Hudson has three quality starts in May and back-to-back six-inning outings for the first time in his career. Hudson has allowed just one home run in his last four starts after giving up eight long balls in his first six appearances. Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman has four homers in his last seven games, and rookie Austin Riley already has five homers in just nine big league games.

Soroka has been stunning this year, and this will be the Cardinals second time facing the 21-year-old. Soroka enters his Saturday assignment with a 2.88 FIP and surrendered his first home run of 2019 his last time out - eight innings of one-run ball against the Giants. Soroka blanked the Cardinals over seven innings; Paul DeJong, Jose Martinez, and Kolten Wong had the only base hits of that game for St. Louis.

The final game of this three-game series on Sunday is set to feature Jack Flaherty and Julio Teheran. Batters have hit just .195 off Flaherty in May; this Braves lineup had just three hits off Flaherty when he started in Atlanta back on 5/14.

Teheran will make his team-leading 12th start of the season and look to cap off a month of May where he boasted a 0.79 ERA in 22 ²⁄₃ innings. Teheran has allowed just 10 hits in May, and St. Louis (Molina and Paul Goldschmidt) had a pair of them. In his career against the Cardinals, Teheran has a 2.77 ERA with 35 strikeouts in seven starts against St. Louis.

So, to recap:

Friday, 5/24, 7:15 | Mikolas v Foltynewicz | MLB Network, FSMW, KMOX, CRN, WJIR

Saturday, 5/25, 6:15 | Hudson v Soroka | Fox, KMOX, CRN, WJIR

Sunday, 5/26, 6:05 | Flaherty v Teheran | ESPN 2, KMOX, CRN, WJIR

Notes from around the league:

• Who has the longest winning streak in the Majors? Did you guess the Marlins? Miami has won six in a row, outscoring opponents 29-15 in that span. They are in Washington for a three-game series with the Nationals this weekend.
• The Blue Jays are calling up Cavan Biggio on Friday. When Craig’s son takes the field with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the pair will be the first sons of Hall of Famers to play together in the big leagues. That is so cool!
• The Twins hit eight home runs in Thursday’s 16-7 victory over the Angels. Jonathan Schoop and Miguel Sano homered twice; Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco, Eddie Rosario, and C.J. Cron added long balls of their own. For context, before the four homers hit in the nightcap of Wednesday’s double header, the Cardinals had five homers in their last five games.