Michael

McGreevy

McGreevy tossed two scoreless innings before the Dodgers got to him for three runs in the third, with all three runs scoring on a bases-clearing double by Mookie Betts. After a clean fourth inning, McGreevy gave up a fourth run on three hits in the fifth. He’d end his day after five at 90 pitches with four strikeouts and in line for a win. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 3.97 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and a 102/40 K/BB ratio across 147 1/3 innings into a start against the Rockies in Colorado on Sunday.

McGreevy survived a five-run first and a two-run second to finish up with three solid innings and give the Cardinals a chance to get back into the game, which they did before eventually losing 8-7. It’s the first time in five starts this month that the Cardinals lost with McGreevy on the mound. He’ll take a season-high 3.86 ERA into next week’s start against the Dodgers.

McGreevy allowed just one hit and one walk through five. All of the runs came after he was replaced by Ryne Stanek with the bases loaded and one out in a 4-0 game in the sixth. Stanek went on to give up a single and a grand slam make it a 5-4 game. The Cardinals did ultimately prevail and improve to 4-0 in McGreevy’s starts this month. McGreevy, though, has collected just one of those wins. He’ll take a 5-9 record and a 3.54 ERA into his next start against the Orioles.

McGreevy tossed a scoreless first inning, then surrendered a three-run blast to Michael Conforto in the second following a two-out error. All three runs would go down as unearned. McGreevy then settled in nicely, giving the Cardinals four more scoreless innings, ending his day after six with six strikeouts. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a solid 3.48 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and a 91/34 K/BB ratio across 132 innings into a start against the Reds in Cincinnati on Thursday.

This was looking like a quality start and a win for McGreevy until Willi Castro doubled and Brett Sullivan homered with two outs in the sixth. McGreevy was lifted then with a 4-3 lead that ended up being blown in the eighth. McGreevy has now gone four outings with a quality start and five without a win, keeping him 4-9 with a 3.64 ERA. He’ll face the Cubs next week.

McGreevy walked one and struck out five, but threw just 58 percent of his pitches for strikes. He posted a 10 percent swinging strike rate, which was above his season average, but had just 14 percent called strikes in a game where his command really struggled. He’ll take a 3.59 ERA into a meeting against the Phillies next week.

Yikes. McGreevy gave up two in the first on a two-run double by Ian Happ, and then was charged for five more in the second in a disaster of a start for the 26-year-old. The right-hander allowed eight hits, and while none of them left the park, he gave up six hard hits, so he was not dinked and dunked to death. After giving up 11 runs in his last two outings, McGreevy now has a still-solid 3.57 ERA, but you see what can happen when you have nowhere close to an elite fastball. He’ll try and get rolling again versus the Blue Jays on Sunday.

McGreevy came up a little shy of his fifth straight quality start by giving up three runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. He surrendered seven hits, walked three and struck out three in dropping to 4-8. He’ll face the Cubs for the first time this season next week.

St. Louis will transition to a six-man rotation with Dobbins’ arrival pushing everyone else back an additional day, including Wednesday’s original starter Michael McGreevy. The 26-year-old came over from the Red Sox in the Willson Contreras trade last offseason and has posted a pedestrian 4.03 ERA across 22 1/3 innings over five appearances for the Cardinals this season. He’s missing bats at a higher rate than expected, albeit in a small sample size, but Dobbins isn’t exactly an intriguing fantasy option at this stage of his career.

Pitching on eight days’ rest, McGreevy averaged 92.7 mph with his fastball, matching his season high. He still gave up 11 hard-hit balls, including a homer to Tim Tawa and a 420-foot double to Gabriel Moreno that would have been out of 25 ballparks, but he walked just one and never gave up a hit with a runner in scoring position. It’s his 13th quality start in 19 tries this season, but after another no-decision, he still has just a 4-7 record to show for it. He’ll face the Angels on Wednesday.