13 Matt Carpenter 3B

Carpenter is out of the lineup against the Mets on Wednesday, Brian Stull of St. Louis Baseball Weekly reports.

Carpenter will receive a standard day off following five straight starts as Jedd Gyorko gets the nod at third base for Wednesday's affair. Over 21 games in 2018, Carpenter is hitting .167/.326/.306 with two home runs and 10 RBI.

Carpenter will hit atop the order and play third base against the Reds on Saturday.

This marks the first time all season that Carpenter will serve as the leadoff hitter for manager Mike Matheny. He has typically been utilized out of the three-hole, but was second in the order for Friday's series opener. Over 18 appearances in 2018, Carpenter is hitting just .177/.329/.323 with two home runs and 10 RBI.

Carpenter went 2-for-4 with two strikeouts, a walk, and three RBI in Tuesday's win over the Cubs.

Carpenter opened up the scoring with an RBI double in the third, and helped snap a 1-for-15 stretch in the process. The 32-year-old is still hovering below the Mendoza Line even after the multi-hit showing and struck out multiple times for the fourth time in five games, but the three-RBI performance may help spur a turnaround out of his early season funk.

Carpenter went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a 3-2 win over the Reds on Sunday.

Carpenter's early-season contact issues continued Sunday, as he posted his sixth multi-strikeout game over the last eight. He's whiffed at least once in 11 of the last 12 contests overall, as well, leading to a 28.8 percent strikeout rate over his first 66 plate appearances. Given the relatively small sample, the fact that Carpenter has never posted a strikeout rate higher than 22.7 percent in his career and his unsustainably low .194 BABIP, the 32-year-old infielder's fortunes at the plate are bound to turn around soon, although to what extent remains to be seen.

Carpenter went 2-for-4 with two runs, two walks and a two-run walkoff home run in the 11th inning in a 5-3 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Carpenter was hitting just .156 coming into the game but he got his second homer of the season with this game-ending blast off J.J. Hoover. It's been a weird season so far for Carpenter, as he has a solid .375 on-base percentage but has struggled to hit for average. The fact that his walk rate has remained so high suggests he's seeing the ball well, and he's a .276 hitter for his career, so Tuesday's multi-hit game could be a sign Carpenter is getting set to start producing like the guy who has an .800-plus OPS in five of his last six seasons.