Citizens Bank Park will play host to a Monday night MLB clash between the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies. On Sunday, the Cardinals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-0 home victory against the Chicago Cubs. SP Jack Flaherty struck out seven batters over five scoreless frames to earn the win for St. Louis, who is four games out of first place in the NL Central.
Twenty-nine year old righty Miles Mikolas (7-2 2.43 ERA) has been a pleasant surprise in his first season with the Cardinals. Last time out, Mikolas allowed six hits and three runs during a 4-2 loss versus San Diego.
The Philadelphia Phillies have won three of their last four games and are looking to remain in contention in the NL East Division. On Sunday, Maikel Franco homered and drove in four runs during a wild 10-9 road triumph against Milwaukee. Philadelphia is five games above .500 overall and four games behind Atlanta for first place.
The Phillies will counter with twenty-five year old righty Nick Pivetta (4-6 4.25 ERA) on Monday. Pivetta has lost four straight starts and has been tagged for 15 runs over his last 19 innings of work.
