Los Angeles Angels Probable Pitchers & Starting Lineup vs. St. Louis Cardinals, May 3

Los Angeles Angels Probable Pitchers & Starting Lineup vs. St. Louis Cardinals, May 3

Shohei Ohtani takes the mound for the Los Angeles Angels following their second straight win last night. Ohtani is coming off of his worst start of the season which ironically came at home against the Oakland A's. He looks to get back on track against a Cardinals team that should have a potent offense but has underperformed in just about every way this season. Ohtani will face WBC teammate Lars Nootbaar which should be fun to watch.

Ohtani will be opposed by right-hander Miles Mikolas. Mikolas has a solid season last year, posting a 3.29 ERA and making the all-star team. He's struggled mightily in the early going this season, posting a 5.97 ERA in his first six starts of the season. He did pitch 6.1 scoreless innings in San Francisco his last time out, so maybe Mikolas is turning a corner.

Los Angeles Angels starting lineup

1. Zach Neto - SS
2. Mike Trout - CF
3. Shohei Ohtani - P
4. Anthony Rendon - 3B
5. Hunter Renfroe - RF
6. Brandon Drury - 2B
7. Taylor Ward - LF
8. Gio Urshela - 1B
9. Chad Wallach - C

Shohei Ohtani returns to the lineup after getting yesterday off. He'll look to help himself at the plate tonight. The rest of the lineup looks the same as it always does. Chad Wallach gets the start against the righty over Matt Thaiss because he's Ohtani's catcher.

St. Louis Cardinals starting lineup

1. Lars Nootbaar - RF
2. Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
3. Nolan Gorman - DH
4. Nolan Arenado - 3B
5. Willson Contreras - C
6. Alec Burelson - LF
7. Dylan Carlson - CF
8. Brendan Donovan - 2B
9. Tommy Edman - SS

Which LA Angels player needs to bounce back today?

Let's go with Shohei Ohtani the pitcher to bounce back today. Patrick Sandoval only went five innings yesterday, so the Angels would like to get more length tonight. Ohtani pitched brilliantly in his first three innings and last two frames, but he needs to avoid the huge inning against an offense featuring the 2022 NL MVP and an NL MVP finalist as well. Some quality length would be great.

Which LA Angels player will be the X-factor in today's game?

Anthony Rendon had great numbers against last night's starting pitcher Steven Matz and he came through driving in the first run of the game with an RBI single. Rendon has four hits in nine career at-bats against tonight's starter Mikolas. Can Rendon come up with another big hit again?