The Braves tour continues with a three-game series against the Cardinals

Following their series win in New York, the Atlanta Braves travel to St. Louis where they begin a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday. The Braves won two of three games against the AL East-leading Yankees thanks to some timely hitting and excellent pitching from Chris Sale, Max Fried and the bullpen. Atlanta is 43-32 this season and is seven games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East standings.

The Braves beat Carlos Rodon by eight runs and three home runs on Friday. Coming off a six-week power outage, Atlanta has hit 19 home runs in its last nine games. Austin Riley went hitless on Sunday but has hit 13 for 30 with four doubles and four home runs in his last nine games. Jarred Kelenic extended his hitting streak to 10 straight games on Sunday with his seventh home run of the season. Kelenic has an OPS of .912 in June.

Atlanta could also be close to getting a key player back from its bullpen. AJ Minter made a rehab appearance for Rome on Saturday. Minter has been on the injured list since May 30 with inflammation in his hip. It is not yet known if he will make another rehab appearance or rejoin the club in St. Louis.

The Cardinals beat the Giants 5-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep. They enter the series with a 39-37 record and are 4.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. They have won three straight games and seven of 10 overall. St. Louis has struggled to score points this season and enters the series ranked 25th in the major leagues. Their pitching staff ranks 15th in ERA and 10th in FIP.

Willson Contreras leads the team in fWAR despite going on the injured list on May 8. He remains out after undergoing surgery for a broken forearm. Some of their offensive woes can be attributed to the slow starts of Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt. Arenado has six home runs and a wRC+ of 97 for the season. Goldschmidt is hitting just .231/.299/.363 with 10 home runs and a wRC+ of 91

Monday, June 24, 7:45 p.m. ET (Bally Sports South)

Spencer Schwellenbach (4 GS, 21.2 IP, 20.4 K%, 7.5 BB%, 4.98 ERA, 3.98 FIP)

Spencer Schwellenbach will make his fifth start for the Braves in the series opener on Monday. Schwellenbach came up from Double A on May 29 and allowed nine runs in his first 9 2/3 innings. He has settled in somewhat in recent starts. On June 12, he held the Orioles’ powerful offense to two runs in six innings. In his final game against the Tigers, he made the best start of his young career, allowing one run and posting a career-high seven strikeouts in six innings.

Lance Lynn (15 GS, 75.0 IP, 21.7 K%, 8.9 BB%, 4.08 ERA, 4.08 FIP)

Veteran right-hander Lance Lynn will make his 16th start of the season in Monday’s game. Lynn returned to the Cardinals over the winter on a one-year, $11 million contract. That’s a pretty steep price for a pitcher who was coming off a season with a 5.73 ERA and 44 home runs. Lynn has been better since returning to St. Louis, although he did allow a season-high five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Marlins. That was the first time in three starts Lynn has gotten past the fifth inning. Lynn has a 4.34 ERA in eight career starts against the Braves. He faced them twice last season and got banged up, allowing 13 hits, 11 runs and five home runs in 9 2/3 innings.

Tuesday, June 25, 7:45 p.m. ET (Bally Sports South)

Reynaldo Lopez (13 GS, 74.1 IP, 25.9 K%, 7.8 BB%, 1.57 ERA, 2.73 FIP)

Reynaldo López will start for the Braves in Tuesday’s game. Lopez allowed a season-high seven hits in five innings in his last game against Detroit, but was able to keep them off the scoreboard. He has not allowed a run in two consecutive games and has 29 strikeouts in his last 23 innings.

Kyle Gibson (14 GS, 83.2 IP, 21.3 K%, 9.0 BB%, 3.44 ERA, 4.14 FIP)

Veteran right-hander Kyle Gibson will start opposite Lopez in Tuesday’s game. Like Lynn, the Cardinals brought in Gibson hoping he could eat up innings and help solidify their rotation. He has filled that role well, posting a 3.44 ERA and 4.14 FIP in his first 14 starts. Gibson is coming off one of his best starts of the season, holding the Cubs scoreless for seven innings while recording six strikeouts. Gibson has a 4.91 ERA in five career starts against Atlanta. Three of those starts were with the Phillies in 2022, where he allowed 18 hits and nine runs in 15 innings.

Wednesday, June 26, 7:15 p.m. ET (Bally Sports South)

Chris Sale (14 GS, 86.2 IP, 31.4 K%, 4.7 BB%, 2.91 ERA, 2.30 FIP)

Chris Sale will make his 15th start of the season in the series finale on Wednesday. Sale continued his strong start to the season on Friday against the Yankees, where he allowed one run and had eight strikeouts in five innings. He allowed three walks, which set a season high and increased his pitch count slightly. The one hit and run he allowed came on a fly ball that Adam Duvall evaded for a double. Sale has only played against the Cardinals twice in his career. One of those starts was last season at Boston, where he allowed one run and had nine strikeouts in eight innings.

Andre Pallante (14 G, 5 GS, 32.2 IP, 17.8 K%, 10.3 BB%, 5.23 ERA, 4.22 FIP)

Andrew Pallante will make his sixth start since being added to the Cardinals’ rotation on Wednesday. Pallante began the season in the bullpen and struggled, allowing seven earned runs in 10 innings. His numbers have improved since moving to the rotation, but his performance has been inconsistent. He was hit hard in his last start, allowing seven hits, three walks and five runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Giants.