The St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets continue to battle as two of the best teams in the National League at the moment as they wrap up their four-game series. The Cardinals have out-dueled the Mets for the past two games as they look to win their third straight to end the series. Pitching has been the name of the game for St. Louis as they bring back a familiar face for the Thursday afternoon matchup.
Jaime Garcia will take the mound for the first time in 11 months after the pitcher underwent thoracic outlet surgery in July. He was expected to start the season, but suffered a setback during spring training and ended up back on the disabled list. Now Garcia returns to try and earn his starting spot back. With Adam Wainwright out for the season the Cardinals could use a successful Garcia on the mound.
Right now the Cardinals still have the best pitching in baseball. The team has a 2.72 combined ERA while the starters have a 3.08 ERA which is the lowest in the majors. That is with Wainwright out. Against the Mets, the starting pitching has been even better with a combined 1.30 ERA. Carlos Martinez led the way on Wednesday going over six innings while he and two relievers gave up just four hits. In his career, Garcia is 2-0 with a 0.96 ERA in four starts against the Mets. In his last two rehab starts, Garcia allowed seven runs in over eight innings of play.
The Mets will aim to counter with Jacob deGrom who is 4-4 with a 3.21 ERA on the season. They are hoping to avoid their first three-game losing streak. deGrom is good at home which should help. At Citi Field the pitcher is 9-1 with a 1.32 ERA with 83 total strikeouts. In his last start, deGrom gave up one run over six innings of play against the Milwaukee Brewers while also delivering three hits in the game. He will try and salvage the series for the Mets and try to keep the team afloat in the National League East standings.
