St. Louis Cardinals vs Arizona Diamondbacks Starting Lineup — Friday, Jul 17, 2026

St. Louis has several hitters with at least some history against Merrill Kelly. JJ Wetherholt is 2-for-3 with a 1.334 OPS, Nathan Church is 2-for-2 with a 2.000 OPS, and Iván Herrera is 3-for-8 in 9 PA with a .375 average and .819 OPS. Lars Nootbaar has gone 2-for-11 in 14 PA but still carries an .812 OPS, while Alec Burleson is 2-for-10 in 12 PA with a .533 OPS and Masyn Winn is 2-for-9 with a .444 OPS. Jordan Walker is hitless in 0-for-3 in 4 PA with a .250 OPS, Jimmy Crooks is hitless in 0-for-3 with a .000 OPS, and José Fermín has no MLB history vs Kelly.

Arizona’s lineup has no MLB history against Michael McGreevy. Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, Corbin Carroll, Gabriel Moreno, Max Kepler, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Nolan Arenado, Ildemaro Vargas, and Tim Tawa have not faced him in the majors.

The clear familiarity edge belongs to St. Louis, which brings multiple hitters with prior looks at Kelly and a few strong small-sample results. Arizona is going in completely fresh against McGreevy.