John Gant has turned from occasional spot starter to fixture in the St. Louis Cardinals‘ rotation. Now he needs to bounce back from his first bad start in six weeks.The right-hander gets the ball Friday night when St. Louis opens its last homestand of the regular season against the San Francisco Giants in Busch Stadium.After seven consecutive starts in which he had allowed no more than two earned runs while posting a 4-1 record and knocking his ERA down by nearly a full run Mallex Smith Jersey , Gant was rocked in a 17-4 loss Saturday by the Los Angeles Dodgers.Article continues below ...In 4 1/3 innings, Gant (7-6, 3.53 ERA) yielded six hits and six runs, issuing four walks and fanning four. Free passes have been his only real weakness during his solid stretch, as he has walked 18 in his last five starts covering 28 innings.“I just have to come out and bear down harder than that,” Gant said to mlb.com after losing to Los Angeles. “I can’t be walking those guys in that situation. I’ve got to be better for the team right there.”Gant will make his fourth career appearance against San Francisco and his second as a starter. He’s 0-0 in 10 innings with a 2.70 ERA.In his only start against the Giants this season, Gant gave up two runs, five hits and three walks over six innings, but did not get a decision in the Cardinals’ 3-2 loss.The Cardinals (84-69) can’t afford another short start from Gant, not with their postseason lives at stake. They start the weekend 1 1/2 games ahead of Colorado for the National League’s second wild-card spot and three games behind Milwaukee for the top wild-card position.St. Louis is also 5 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs for first place in the NL Central but could put itself into position to challenge for the division title with some help. St. Louis closes the regular season next weekend with three games at Wrigley Field.St. Louis could have edged closer to Chicago on Wednesday but dropped a 7-3 decision in Atlanta. Still http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-blake-snell-jersey , manager Mike Shildt was pleased by taking two of three from the NL East leaders on their field.“If we win series, we’ll be fine,” he said to mlb.com. “Two out of three against a club leading their division? We feel pretty good about it.”While St. Louis is trying to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2015, the Giants (72-81) are playing out a few weeks’ worth of string after fading from contention in August. All they can do is ruin others’ hopes.In Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.14), San Francisco has a pitcher who is known for breaking hearts late in the season. The left-hander, who’s finishing his second straight injury-shortened season, is coming off a 3-0 win Saturday over Colorado that saw him fire six shutout innings, allowing five hits and a walk with two strikeouts.This will be Bumgarner’s first start in St. Louis since the 2014 NLCS, when he did what he does best in October — deal. He tossed 7 2/3 scoreless innings in Game 1 Rob Refsnyder Jersey , notching a 3-0 win that started the Giants on the way to a 4-1 series victory.Bumgarner is 4-5 with a 4.61 ERA in nine regular-season starts against the Cardinals. He has started one game against St. Louis this season, allowing four runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, but getting the win in the Giants’ 13-8 victory on July 8. WASHINGTON — The Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals fumbled opportunities to gain ground on the Atlanta Braves this weekend.Now they’ll meet in an important three-game series beginning Tuesday night.The situation isn’t nearly as dire for the Phillies, who find themselves tied with Braves, but the Nationals are 7 1/2 games back and may have used up all of their mulligans.Article continues below ...Washington (62-63) dropped two of three games to the Miami Marlins, who are in last place in the National League East, and have lost six of eight. Philadelphia (68-56) hasn’t floundered quite as badly, winning five of their last 13, but dropped three of five games to the New York Mets while the Braves were losing four straight to the Rockies.“We understand that we’ve had some missed opportunities to take some steps forward here,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler told MLB.com after the Phillies lost 8-2 Sunday in the Little League Classic in Williamsport http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-miller-jersey , Pa.“So, at this very moment, I’m not thinking about how fortunate we are. I do feel like we’re in a good spot in the standings, but I’m thinking about the fact that we need to take the day off, regroup and get ready to play the Nationals.”The Nationals have some regrouping to do themselves. After losing in extra innings Saturday night, they were manhandled by the Marlins 12-1 on Sunday, getting just two hits off starter Jose Urena, who tossed his first career complete game.Washington starter Gio Gonzalez (7-10) continues to struggle, allowing eight runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings.“I think it was in all honesty an ugly game. And everybody saw it,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.Before Sunday’s game Joey Wendle Jersey , Martinez announced that right-hander Stephen Strasburg (cervical nerve impingement) will come off the disabled list to pitch the second game of the series Wednesday night. He’ll be sandwiched between Tanner Roark and Max Scherzer.“It’s nice to be able to go into that series with our three best pitchers,” Martinez said.Added outfielder Adam Eaton to MASN.com: “A good week or two, a sweep of two teams that are ahead of us, can get us right back in the ballgame. But we’ve got to do it now.”Roark (8-12, 4.13 ERA) struggled in the first half, but the right-hander is 5-0 with a 1.77 ERA overall since the All-Star break. Last time out, Roark picked up a win when he allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.He is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA against the Phillies this season and 6-9 with a 4.18 ERA in 20 games (18 starts) in his career.Right-hander Vince Velasquez (8-9, 4.13) gets the opener for the Phillies. He has allowed seven runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings in his last two starts.Velasuez got the win when he faced Roark and the Nationals on May 5 and took a no-decision against Washington on June 30. He’s 2-2 with a 5.28 ERA in six starts against the Nationals.Tuesday will tell who was better able to bounce back from a disappointing weekend.“There’s still quite a bit of baseball left,” the Phillies Nick Pivetta, Sunday’s losing pitcher http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-christian-arroyo-jersey , told MLB.com. “There’s not a ton, but there’s still a good enough amount where nights like these you can brush them off your shoulders and take the off-day tomorrow, regain your strength, go into Washington.“I know these men in here. (Tuesday) we’re going to go in there, we’re going to look for the sweep against those Nationals.”
