After struggling in his first two starts of the season, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Steven Matz will try to settle in Saturday against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
Matz (0-2, 8.18 ERA) took a 7-4 loss against the Colorado Rockies in Denver on Monday. He allowed six runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings while getting caught up in the game’s brisk pace with the pitch clock.
“I like working quickly, so I didn’t really think too much about it,” Matz said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We were rolling. I definitely should have stopped, given myself some time, slowed the traffic down a little bit out there.
“Looking back, that’s an adjustment that I could have made. I feel like there are times when I have more time than I think. I’m pitching and there are seven, eight seconds left. And, you know, three or four pitches go by and that’s 30 extra seconds that you’re getting to just recover and recuperate, ground yourself and focus on pitches.”
Matz is 2-3 with 5.50 ERA in nine career games, including seven starts, against the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen is 5-for-16 with three walks and two RBIs against him.
The teams split the first two games of the four-game series in St. Louis, with the Pirates winning 5-0 Thursday and the Cardinals answering 3-0 on Friday.
Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras broke a 0-for-22 slump with an RBI single in the eighth inning.
“He’s been wanting that,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Hopefully it jump-starts him because he’s a big part of our offense.
“This is a guy that cares. He has put in a lot of work, so to see him come through was good.”
The Pirates will counter Matz with Roansy Contreras (1-1, 8.00 ERA), who allowed seven runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings in a 9-2 loss to the Houston Astros on Monday.
Contreras is 1-0 with a 5.02 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against the Cardinals. Paul Goldschmidt (2-for-5, two doubles, two walks) and Tommy Edman (2-for-6, two walks) have had success against him.
Pittsburgh scratched Ji Man Choi from the lineup Friday due to an ankle injury. Meanwhile, catcher Austin Hedges came off the injured list after recovering from his concussion, and he went 1-for-3.
“Really important for us,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton told AT&T Sportsnet of getting Hedges back. “It’s a guy we went out and targeted to come in during the offseason and do it. Unfortunately, he had a concussion.”
The Pirates also got reliever Robert Stephenson back after he rehabbed his sore elbow at the Triple-A level. He retired both St. Louis hitters he faced on Friday.
“(He is) a guy that we planned on being in our bullpen when we started in spring training,” Shelton said, “He had a little bit of a setback. He’s gone down to Indy and pitched. It’s nice to get him back.”
The Cardinals could get outfielder Lars Nootbaar back in the lineup on Saturday. He has recovered from a sprained left thumb.
–Field Level Media