Cardinals Sweep Pirates as streak continues
The Cardinals (47-41) swept the Pirates in Pittsburgh to begin the week. The Cardinals have now won 6 straight games and have closed to within a game of the Brewers in the NL Central and lead the Reds by 2 games in the wildcard.
The hot hitting continues for the Cardinals who scored 5 runs on Tuesday, 7 on Wednesday, and 6 on Thursday. Pitching wasn't as strong as the Reds series, but still was serviceable to keep leads and close out games. The best news of the series is Jack Flaherty thru a complete game shutout on Tuesday. Flaherty has struggled this year, but this could be a turning point for him becoming a top rotational starter that he was pegged to be in the Cardinals organization.
Paul Goldschmidt continues to swing a hot bat as he has hit safely in 10 straight games and homered in back to back games (Wednesday and Thursday)
The Cardinals will travel to Washington for a 4 game series that includes an odd Monday finale of the series.
Cardinals acquire Jordan Hicks from Giants
The Cardinals continue the reuniting campaign as they acquired RHP Jordan Hicks from the Giants. Hicks who was a starter for the Giants was just 2-7 with a plus 4 ERA and 1.75 WHIP. He was only averaging about 5 innings per start. The Cardinals will convert Hicks back to a bullpen piece as they look to improve their pitching staff over the next few weeks as the deadline approaches.
In return the Giants received OF Nathan Church (#18 STL organization) RHP Sem Robberse (#15 STL organization) and RHP Zach Showalter (#20 STL organization)
The Cardinals will continue to look to improve the pitching staff, but don't expect them to sell the farm to do so. This will likely be the biggest return the Cards send to acquire a trade piece, but this is in part due to Hicks is under contact for the next 3 years.