Game two of the St. Louis Cardinals' road trip is a late one—the Cardinals will take on the San Francisco Giants at 9:05 CDT, with second-year stalwart Jaime Garcia set to take on Matt Cain in a game that promises to be a pitchers' duel—neither starter has given up a run in 2011—and will therefore probably end by a final score of 15-10.
Jaime Garcia was outstanding in his regular season debut after a rough Spring Training, pitching the first shutout of the 2011 season with a nine inning, four hit, nine strikeout performance against the San Diego Padres. Garcia was almost unhittable on April 3, picking up 14 swinging strikes—just missing a season high—to go with 13 groundball outs.
Matt Cain's 13-11 record in 2010 belies his outstanding season—he finished with a 3.14 ERA—and he got off to a much more representative start in 2011, picking up a win by throwing six shutout innings without allowing a walk in his season debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Cain will have to go deeper in Saturday's game; both sides face depleted bullpens after Friday's extra-innings dogfight.