Although the team expected to welcome him back into the fold to start the week, the St. Louis Cardinals will not have the services of third baseman David Freese on Monday night for their game against the Pirates.
Freese hoped to be included in Monday's lineup after his wrist injury was cleared by doctors on Sunday, but is now expected to make his return for Tuesday's Game Two, barring a setback. Matt Carpenter will once again get the start at third and bat No. 2 in Freese's absence.
Getting the ball for the Cards to kick off this pivotal series will be right-hander Kyle Lohse, who enters with a sparkling 13-2 record and an overwhelming amount of confidence. The 33-year-old Lohse has improved across the board statistically from his stellar 14-8 campaign a year ago, and will hope to keep things going against a Pittsburgh team that continues to hang around the NL wild card race.
Here are Monday's starting lineups:
Cardinals
1. Jon Jay - CF
2. Matt Carpenter - 3B
3. Matt Holliday - LF
4. Allen Craig - 1B
5. Carlos Beltran - RF
6. Yadier Molina - C
7. Skip Schumaker - 2B
8. Rafael Furcal - SS
9. Kyle Lohse - SP
Pirates
1. Jose Tabata - LF
2. Travis Snider - RF
3. Andrew McCutchen - CF
4. Garrett Jones - 1B
5. Neil Walker - 2B
6. Pedro Alvarez - 3B
7. Josh Harrison - SS
8. Rod Barajas - C
9. A.J. Burnett - SP
Be sure to head over to Viva El Birdos for more Cardinals coverage, and check out Bucs Dugout for more on the Pirates. Also visit Baseball Nation for even more news and analysis from around the league.