By James Bailey
Joel Pineiro vs Johnny Cueto
St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds
May 8, 2009
Tonight’s NL Central showdown features two of the better pitching staffs in the league, and one of the best individual performers of the ’09 season. The Cardinals have soldiered on without ace Chris Carpenter and currently rank second in the NL with a 3.77 team ERA. Pineiro has been a big part of that, showing signs that his long drought may be over at last. The streaking Cueto has been the ace of a potent Reds staff. Cincy as a team owns a 3.99 ERA, fifth best in the league, and the young righthander has keyed that effort with his 1.65 mark.
Pineiro was once one of the top young pitchers in the American League, though it’s easy to forget these days. He won 14 games in 2002, his first full big league season. The following year he won 16 more while topping 200 innings for the first time. Things went south in 2004, however, and he has yet to recapture the magic. Since starting his career 37-20, he’s gone 35-47 over the past five seasons. His run in Seattle came to a close after the 2006 season when the Mariners declined to offer him a contract. The Cardinals are his third major league club, and he may finally be regaining his touch in St. Louis. The 30-year-old righthander doesn’t throw as hard as he did when he broke in, but he’s learning how to get by without being able to blow the ball past anyone. Through five starts he’s 4-1 with a 3.24 ERA and has allowed more than two earned runs only once. Last Saturday the Nationals beat him for his only loss of the year, though he held them to one earned run in seven innings. A Chris Duncan error allowed three unearned runs to score in the fifth, marring Pineiro’s perfect record. In 33.1 innings he’s allowed 37 hits and seven walks while fanning 10. He was 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three starts against the Reds last year.
Cueto is as hot as any pitcher in the game right now. He ranks second in the NL in ERA, behind only Mets lefthander Johan Santana. Since allowing four runs in his first start of the season he’s yielded just two over his last four starts, spanning 26.2 innings. On Sunday he throttled the Pirates, tossing eight scoreless innings and striking out nine as the Reds cruised, 5-0. That boosted his record to 2-1. The 23-year-old Dominican showed flashes last year, but lacked the consistency to string together streaks like the one he’s riding now. He also had trouble keeping the ball in the park, allowing 29 homers in 31 starts (compared to just two so far this year). He finished his rookie season 9-14 with a 4.81 ERA and 158 strikeouts in 174 innings. Cueto owns a live fastball that runs into the mid-90s and excited the Reds during his climb through the system by averaging better than a strikeout per inning. The Cardinals pounded him twice last year in his only two starts against them. His 16.20 ERA against St. Louis was by far his worst showing against any club. Now that he knows what he’s doing, perhaps it’s time for payback.
