Mike Leake lost to the Reds twice in four starts last season.
Mike Leake takes the mound for the Cardinals against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium on Friday night, hoping for better success than he experienced in 2016 -- both overall and against his old team.
Leake struggled through a year in which he went 9-12 with a 4.69 ERA, neither of which was helped by Cincinnati.
The Reds handed the right-hander two losses in four starts, pummeling him for seven runs on Aug. 4 to tie his career high for most runs allowed in a game. But the sinkerballing Leake has looked much better this spring, signaling a return to the pitcher St. Louis spent $80 million to sign in December 2015.
Leake went 3-1 with a 3.81 ERA in six spring training starts.
"I was repeating and being more consistent with the force and energy I'm generating through my windup," Leake told MLB.com.
The Cardinals (1-2) are coming off a disappointing defeat to the Cubs. They coughed up a 4-1 lead and lost 6-4, two days after losing 2-1 to the defending World Series champions.
Leake will face left-hander Amir Garrett, who will make his major league debut. Garrett, 25, was a four-star recruit in basketball and played two seasons at St. John's before switching full time to baseball. He won three games in spring training and displayed good control. He walked just six batters over 21 1/3 innings.
"The key for him is to harness all his pitches in the zone," Cincinnati manager Bryan Price said. "He's got a very good fastball. The changeup and slider have improved greatly. The changeup is a difference-maker for him to hit the ground running at the major league level."
The Reds opened the season winning two of three from the Phillies.
Michael Wacha will pitch the Saturday game against a Reds starter to be determined. The teams' Opening Day starters -- Scott Feldman for Cincinnati and Carlos Martinez for St. Louis -- get the call in the series finale Sunday.
