Dueling aces to deal with hot cardinals, collapsing giants

After struggling for much of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are hoping to gain ground in the National League playoff race during their 10-game home stretch.

That effort will continue on Sunday when it attempts to complete a three-game sweep against the San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals defeated the Giants 6-5 on Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama, and 9-4 at home on Saturday at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals have won seven of their past 10 games, while the Giants have lost four in a row. St. Louis will try to get two games above .500 for the first time this season.

“Obviously we’ve had all our ups and downs this season, but we’re not even halfway through yet,” Cardinals outfielder Alec Burleson told Bally Sports Midwest on Saturday after his two-home run, five-RBI game. “We still have a lot of ball to play and I’m glad this team is starting to click.”

Sunday’s match features a staff-ace combination. Sonny Gray (8-4, 2.95 ERA) will start for the Cardinals and Logan Webb (6-5, 2.99 ERA) will go for the Giants.

Gray has had his longest start of the season. He held the Miami Marlins to two runs on five hits in 7 2/3 innings on Monday.

He struck out four and walked two in a game that the Cardinals ultimately won 7-6 in 12 innings. Gray needed only 84 pitches to retire 23 batters.

“I don’t know how many times I got two hits, but it couldn’t have been many,” Gray said. “I just had the mindset that I was going to attack the middle part of the plate early. They’re going to swing early. I knew that.”

Gray is 2-1 with a 3.27 ERA in six career starts against the Giants.

Webb met the quality start metric in seven of his past eight starts. In his last appearance, he held the Chicago Cubs to two runs on six hits in seven innings. He struck out five and walked one as the Giants lost 5-2 on Tuesday.

Webb had to regroup during the sixth inning after learning of the death of Giants legend Willie Mays.

“It was hard at first,” Webb said. “I took my hat off and looked at the scoreboard and just thought about him. I kind of looked at the referee and thought, ‘I think you should stop the clock.’ “I had to think about it and be proud of the jersey I wore, the hat I wore, knowing that Willie was doing the same thing.”

Webb is 3-2 with a 5.17 ERA in six career starts against the Cardinals.

The Giants placed outfielder Mike Yastrzemski (oblique strain) and pitcher Keaton Winn (elbowitis) on the injured list on Saturday and recalled outfielder Luis Matos and corner infielder David Villar from Triple-A Sacramento.

Yastrzemski was diagnosed with a mild strain after withdrawing from Thursday’s match.

“To actually use my brain in that situation and say I think this is the smarter decision not to go through with it, it was good,” Yastrzemski told NBC Sports Bay Area.

The Cardinals activated reliever Giovanny Gallegos (shoulder impingement) from the injured list this weekend and returned Adam Kloffenstein to Triple-A Memphis. They also placed catcher Ivan Herrera (tight back) on the injured list and promoted catcher Nick Raposo from Memphis.

St. Louis outfielder Michael Siani and third baseman Nolan Arenado are questionable after leaving Saturday’s game. Siani suffered bruised ribs while making a diving catch and Arenado left with left forearm discomfort.

–Field-level media