The St. Louis Cardinals play the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday in Game 4 of their NL division series. The game starts at 3:07 p.m. ET. Listen to the live radio broadcast HERE.
After winning the opening game of the series, St. Louis has dropped two straight to Pittsburgh. Now the Cardinals face elimination on Monday.
"It's a must-win tomorrow for us," Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran told reporters on Sunday, via ESPN. "Hopefully we can come here tomorrow, take care of business, win and go play the last game at home."
St. Louis has the opportunity to do just that. Pittsburgh will start Charlie Morton, who has traditionally struggled pitching against St. Louis. Morton (7-4, 3.26 ERA) is 2-9 with a 6.52 ERA in his 14 starts against the Cardinals, according to the Associated Press. In his last seven starts against the club, Morton is 0-6 with a 6.82 ERA.
Still, Morton's record against St. Louis isn't making Cardinals manager Mike Martheny change his approach to Monday's game.
"We put together a game plan," Martheny told reporters. "We take our successes and failures and learn from them from each individual pitcher and try to put a plan together to give us success for the next time."
For St. Louis, the team hopes to stay alive in the postseason behind the arm of Michael Wacha (4-1, 2.78). Wacha won his only start against Pittsburgh on Sept. 8, when he pitched seven scoreless innings in a 9-2 win.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is eager to prove how talented their team is by advancing beyond the division series.
"We're continuing to surprise a lot of people, I believe. We're continuing to show people that we're not done, that we're not just happy to be in the postseason," said Pirates slugger Andrew McCutchen. "We're fighting to win a World Series."
