June 2, 2011
GIANTS (30-25) vs.
ST. LOUIS (33-24)
Coverage begins at 4:30 P.M. on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- In what's fast becoming an everyday occurrence, the St. Louis Cardinals are adding to a crowded injured list.
Having already lost pitcher Kyle McClellan, the Cardinals are expected to put slugger Matt Holliday on the 15-day disabled list before looking to split a four-game set with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday.
Holliday, who leads the NL with a .342 average, will be sidelined with a injured quadriceps. He returned from a week-long absence and went 1 for 4 in Monday's 7-3 loss to the Giants, but was a pinch-hitter in a 4-3 win Tuesday.
Allen Craig and Jon Jay should get the bulk of the playing time in left field during Holliday's absence. Craig is hitting .337 with four homers and 21 RBIs, while Jay is batting .342 with four homers and 14 RBIs.
News
Lance Berkman likely will bat fourth in place of Holliday despite an 0-for-12 slump that's dropped his average to .329.
McClellan, a converted reliever who's second on the Cardinals with six wins, was put on the DL Wednesday, two days after straining a hip flexor.
"At some point we were going to have to probably slow him down anyway, and this is just a nice opportunity to do that," general manager John Mozeliak said.
St. Louis also is without catcher Gerald Laird (finger) and infielder Nick Punto (arm). Ace Adam Wainwright is lost for the season after elbow surgery.
Lance Lynn will make his major league debut for the NL Central-leading Cardinals (33-24) in the finale. The right-hander was 5-3 with a 4.06 ERA in 10 starts at Triple-A Memphis and a 13-game winner last season for the Redbirds.
RELATED: Lynn to make MLB debut Thursday vs. Giants
San Francisco's Jonathan Sanchez (3-3, 3.38 ERA) will be in search of his first win in three weeks. The left-hander is 0-1 with 2.70 ERA in three starts since beating Arizona on April 11.
Facing Milwaukee on Saturday, Sanchez allowed two runs and two hits with four walks over seven innings, but the Giants fell 3-2 on a suicide squeeze in the ninth.
Sanchez has had trouble locating the strike zone on the road, where he's issued 23 of his 34 walks.
He won his only career start against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, allowing two hits with four walks and five strikeouts in five scoreless innings of the Giants' 8-2 victory on April 20, 2008.
He failed to register a decision in his home debut against the Cardinals. Sanchez yielded one run and four hits over five innings as the Giants went on to a 5-4 win in 12 on April 8.
After the teams split the first two games, Nate Schierholtz made the difference in San Francisco's 7-5, 11-inning win Wednesday.
His RBI single with two outs in the ninth made it 5-all. With one out in the 11th, Schierholtz drove in Freddy Sanchez with the go-ahead run and later scored on rookie Brandon Crawford's single.
REWIND: Shierholtz the hero in Giants win over Cardinals
"His playing time has increased and it will now with the game he had and the way he's been playing," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Schierholtz.
With two outs in the bottom of the inning, the game was delayed 16 minutes after two light standards failed. When play resumed, Brian Wilson needed one pitch to get Craig to ground out and notch his 15th save.
Schierholtz tied a season high with three hits, and Cody Ross had third four-hit game this season for the Giants.
Craig's two-run homer in the seventh inning off a struggling Tim Lincecum gave St. Louis a 5-4 lead. Jay struck out three times.