Cardinals follow innings limit as Kyle Leahy faces Pirates

Right-hander Kyle Leahy has been a bright spot for the St. Louis Cardinals this season, but to protect his promising future, the team is limiting his innings the rest of the way.

Leahy (10-4, 3.13 ERA) makes his 26th start Saturday afternoon, facing the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates in the second contest of a three-game set. The Cards opened the series with a 4-1 victory Friday night.

A big key was the performance of rookie left-hander Quinn Mathews, who allowed a run and struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings for his first major league win. With Mathews pitching into the sixth, and right-hander Ryan Fernandez following with two scoreless innings, the rest of the pitching staff got a much-needed break. And it was important with Leahy starting the next game.

"That's exactly what's needed," Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. "Knowing that you have a shorter start with our guy Leahy tomorrow, Quinn being able to do what he did today was very important."

Leahy's 126 1/3 innings are his most since posting 144 2/3 in 2022 between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis. Leahy, 29, had been a reliever for the Cardinals in his first two full major league seasons.

Leahy pitched at least six innings on six occasions this season, including three straight starts in July. He's been scaling back in August and threw just four scoreless, two-hit innings in his previous start Sunday in a 6-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Cardinals are 4 1/2 games behind the final spot in the NL wild-card race, trailing the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Miami Marlins. But having Leahy healthy going into next season weighs heavily, even with the Cardinals still on the fringe of postseason contention in 2026.

Against the Pirates, he's posted a 1.93 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 14 innings the past two seasons combined. He got the win in an 11-7 victory in a start that lasted 5 1/3 innings at Pittsburgh on April 28. Pirates slugger Oneil Cruz homered that day.

The Pirates have faded from postseason contention and now just want to return to the higher-quality play they showed during the first few months of the season. They've had trouble scoring runs on their current road trip, and they made three errors in the field against the Cardinals in the series opener.

Pirates manager Don Kelly said his team wants to reset after an inconsistent stretch on both sides of the ball.

"We need to get back to doing what we do, which we've talked a lot about -- keeping the line moving, finding a way to have team at-bats, and trusting each other going through the process," Kelly said. "We're getting outside of that right now. Guys going up there trying to carry it, and it's not on any one player personally."

Lake Bachar (1-3, 3.70) will start as an opener for the Pirates, with fellow right-hander Carmen Mlodzinski (6-6, 4.17) expected to follow as a bulk reliever. In 11 career appearances (four starts) Mlodzinski is 3-0 with a 1.75 ERA.