Wednesday is always a good day for baseball fans, but today is even more interesting. There are several MLB on the schedule that could make or break teams as the league approaches its midpoint.
Cardinals take on Nationals
Wednesday night's game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals is expected to result in a sweep for the former. The Cardinals have dominated the series thus far, having outscored the Nationals by a 17-9 margin in two games. Surprisingly, four hits each were recorded by Paul Goldschmidt, Brendan Donovan and Willson Contreras, with Donovan and Goldschmidt also managing to reach the circuits. Paul DeJong also contributed a home run of his own, but Dylan Carlson has been the standout player with two home runs on Tuesday night alone.
The Cardinals have had great success, hitting .329 in their series against Washington. The opposite has been true for the Nationals, who have struggled to make an impact with a team batting average of .284. Despite this, players like Victor Robles and C.J. have made impressive contact and have spurned the Cardinals' strong performance.
To avoid elimination, it will be essential that they find a strategy to prevent St. Louis from taking the lead. Despite having 18 strikeouts, the key to winning three tight games lies in preventing St. Louis from dominating.
Mets and Astros look for hits
The three-game series between the New York Mets and Houston Astros comes to an end today. Max Scherzer showed an outstanding performance for the Mets in Game 1, with only four hits allowed during his eight innings in the field. Although he gave up one home run, which went to Yanier Diaz in the seventh inning, Scherzer remained unbeaten for the rest of the game. The Mets also managed 14 hits, and home runs by Francisco Lindor and Daniel Vogelback added to their victory.
The Mets struggled against Framber Valdez in their game last night. Despite striking him out four times, they were forced to slash nine times. Although they managed to get two runs, the Mets' efforts were marred by Alex Bregman's two-run home run against Verlander in the third inning. Verlander's return to Houston was not successful, as he suffered a loss due to the passing of his former teammate.
Pete Alonso has not had a smooth transition back to the Mets' roster. In his three games since his return, Alonso managed just one hit in 11 at-bats, while also striking out three times and walking twice. That drops his average for the month to .133, but he has two home runs to his credit from earlier in the season.
How about a midweek sweep #STLCardenales pic.twitter.com/NhOJ63I53S
- Cardinals (@cardenales) June 21, 2023
Rattlers and Brewers to find a winner
The Arizona Rattlers and Milwaukee Brewers are playing the final game of their three-game series today. In the first game, the Rattlers took an early lead by scoring six runs against Corbin Burnes in the first inning. However, they lost the second game of the series.
Early in the game, the Rattlers quickly brought in the first run after loading the bases with their first three batters. A timely base on balls by Christian Walker secured the lead for the team. Lourdes Gurries Jr. followed with a solid single, and Emmanuel Rivera delivered an impressive strikeout to pick off the third. Finally, Alek Thomas connected on a three-run home run to bring his score to six.
In a repeat of the first game, the second game began with Corbin Carroll scoring a run in the first minute, followed by Ketel Marte scoring a triple in the second to give his team a substantial lead. However, the lead was not enough as Luis Urias started a string of successful runs for the Brewers, cutting the deficit to 4-1 in the second inning.
Now it is time to see who will emerge as the series champion.
