The Pittsburgh Pirates will try to advance to the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Monday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Pirates are one win away from booking its first NL Championship Series stint in decades, but the threat from this resilient Cardinals squad still loom large.
Pirates slugger Andrew McCutchen will once again try to lead his team to victory after scoring twice in the Pirates' 5-3 win over the Cards in Game 3. With continuous support from the home crowd, McCutchen believes the Bucs have a chance to win it all this year.
"We're continuing to surprise a lot of people, I believe. We're continuing to show people that we're not done, that we're not just happy to be in the postseason," McCutchen told ESPN. "We're fighting to win a World Series."
Though the Cardinals cannot afford to lose another game in the best-of-five series, manager Mike Matheny is confident that the experience his guys learned from previous elimination matches will serve them well in Monday's matchup.
"We put together a game plan," Matheny told ESPN. "We take our successes and failures and learn from them from each individual pitcher and try to put a plan together to give us success for the next time."
Starting Pitchers Matchup (Cardinals' Michael Wacha vs. Pirates' Charlie Morton).
The Cardinals will be starting a first-year hurler on Monday, though it's not rookie Shelby Miller, but Michael Wacha, who's coming off a near no-hitter against the Washington Nationals on Sept. 24.
Wacha, who boasts a 4-1 record with ERA of 2.78, will enter only his 10th big league start of his career. However, Wacha's experience pitching for Texas A&M in the 2011 World Series will certainly help him in this match-up.
On the other hand, the Pirates will be leaning on Charlie Morton, who recorded a 7-4 slate with an ERA of 3.26 and 85 strikeouts this season. But despite his solid numbers, Morton's 0-7 record in his last seven starts against the Cardinals could spell trouble for the home team.
Live Stream & Schedule
TV Coverage of the NLDS between the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals Game 3 will start at 3:07 p.m. EST on TBS. Live stream coverage can be seen on MLB.tv / ESPN Streaming. while the game can be heard on MLB.com Gameday Audio. Live scores and game stats can be followed by clicking here
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