Diamondbacks look to ride wave of momentum against Cardinals on Saturday

Brandon Pfaadt delivered a surgical performance on Friday night, pitching seven scoreless innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks opened their second-half push with a convincing 7-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Chase Field. Arizona will look to ride the momentum after the first win after coming back after the All-Star break, and hopefully gain some ground before the trade deadline.

Saturday afternoon mound matchups:

Ryne Nelson will get the start for Arizona on Saturday and will look to get back on track. Nelson has had a strong demeano this season for the Diamondbacks. Though in his last outing, he only pitched 4.0 innings while giving up four earned runs on seven hits. If Nelson can return to form on Saturday afternoon, the D-Backs could be set up nicely to win the weekend series over St. Louis.

The Cardinals will have Sonny Gray on the mound on Saturday at Chase Field. Gray has a 9-3 record with a 3.50 ERA on the 2025 season and has been steady for St. Louis as of late, as he has only allowed three earned runs in his last two outings.

With the win on Friday night, Arizona improved to a 48-50 record on the season as they are striving to make a run before the trade deadline hits to show that they would rather be contenders over a team that ends up selling core pieces. They’ll look to keep the momentum going Saturday at Chase Field as every game matters for this D-Backs ball club going forward.