Cardinals Begin Tough Homestand Stretch With Series Opener Against Dodgers

The St. Louis Cardinals are coming off a disappointing series sweep against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark to begin the week. After an off day on Thursday, the Cardinals travel back to Busch Stadium to begin a tough homestand beginning with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cardinals (60-61) fell to third in the NL Central after losing the last four games and find themselves nine games out of the division lead and four games behind the final Wildcard spot in the National League. Another bad series on this homestand and the Cardinals should prepare to have their calendars free in October.

Friday, August 16th: Miles Mikolas vs. Justin Wrobleski

The Cardinals will start Miles Mikolas (8-9, 5.30) on the mound for the series opener. The 35 year old right hander has not had a great August so far. In his last two starts, Mikolas has allowed nine earned runs over eight innings of work (10.13 ERA). He will look to get back on course Friday night against one of the toughest lineups in all of baseball.

The Dodgers will go with a spot start on Friday as they have called up Justin Wrobleski (0-1, 4.05). He will return to the Major League ballclub after being optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City at the end of July. He will be making his fifth start of the season for Los Angeles. In his last outing, Wrobleski received a no decision against the Houston Astros after allowing two runs to score off four hits across 5.2 innings.

Today's Lineups

St. Louis Cardinals
1.) SS Masyn Winn
2.) DH Willson Contreras
3.) LF Tommy Pham
4.) 3B Nolan Arenado
5.) 1B Paul Goldschmidt
6.) 2B Brendan Donovan
7.) RF Jordan Walker
8.) C Pedro Pages
9.) CF Victor Scott

SP Miles Mikolas

Los Angeles Dodgers
1.) DH Shohei Ohtani
2.) RF Mookie Betts
3.) 1B Freddie Freeman
4.) LF Teoscar Hernandez
5.) 2B Gavin Lux
6.) C Will Smith
7.) SS Miguel Rojas
8.) CF Kevin Kiermaier
9.) 3B Enrique Hernandez

SP Justin Wrobleski

How to Watch

The first pitch for the series opener at Busch Stadium on Friday is scheduled for 8:15 PM EST. The game will be available on Bally Sports Midwest and Sports Net-LA. Cardinals fans can listen to the game on KMOX 1120 AM, 98.7 FM, and WIJR AM 880 (En Espanol).