Cardinals' Dustin May strives to regain form vs. Braves

The St. Louis Cardinals will search for their first series sweep in over a month when they host the Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game set that will close the first half of the regular season.

Sitting just a game behind the Miami Marlins in the race for the final wild-card spot in the National League, the Cardinals can clinch their first series sweep since defeating the Cincinnati Reds from June 5-7.

Right-hander Dustin May (5-6, 4.55 ERA) will start on Sunday for St. Louis and will try to complete five innings for the first time since pitching a complete-game, one-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on June 15.

Following the best outing of his major league career, May has totaled just 7 1/3 innings in his past three starts. The last time out, he took a step in the right direction, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing four hits and striking out seven in a no-decision Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers. St. Louis lost 4-3.

"It was good to get out there and not (stink), so that definitely felt good," May said of his most recent outing. "Getting a clean first innings gave me a little boost because I didn't know if I was ever going to have another one after the last two. ... The stuff was good. It felt good coming out of the hand. I wasn't super sharp at the start, but I felt like I settled in pretty well."

Before a clean first inning on Monday, May had surrendered seven combined runs in the opening frame in his last two starts.

Amid May's inconsistent first season with the club, St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol hopes Monday was a sign of things to come after the midseason break.

"It was good to see him back out there and feeling healthy," Marmol said of May. "Everything was where you'd want it to be. Overall, it was a plus night for him."

In four career appearances (three starts) against the Braves, May is 0-2 with an 8.78 ERA. He faced them on July 2 and lasted just two-thirds of an inning after taking a comebacker off his ankle. May yielded five runs on five hits in his team's 11-5 victory, walking two and striking out one in the abbreviated start.

The Braves have just two total runs across the first two games of this series, dropping their fifth game in seven tries with a 4-1 loss on Saturday.

JR Ritchie (1-2, 4.60 ERA) will be summoned back to the rotation for the first-half finale. The 23-year-old rookie started the first five games of his big league career before toggling between being a spot-starter and the bullpen.

Fellow right-hander Hurston Waldrep was in line to start Sunday, but Atlanta optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett on Friday.

Ritchie last pitched on Thursday and tossed 1 1/3 innings in relief, allowing a run on two hits while walking two and striking out one in a 10-5 road win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He will face St. Louis for the first time in his career.

--Field Level Media