Cardinals and Pirates meet to decide series winner
Pittsburgh Pirates (32-35, fifth in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (32-34, fourth in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Thursday, 2:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Mitch Keller (8-3, 3.16 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 74 strikeouts); Cardinals: Lance Lynn (2-3, 3.58 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 63 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Cardinals -110, Pirates -110; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates are looking for a series win with a victory on Thursday.
St. Louis is 32-34 overall and 16-15 in home games. The Cardinals have the 10th-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .307.
Pittsburgh is 32-35 overall and 16-18 in road games. The Pirates have a 14-9 record in games when they did not allow a home run.
The teams play Thursday for the third time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Arenado has 12 doubles, six home runs and 31 RBI while hitting .264 for the Cardinals. Alec Burleson is 12-for-42 with a double and four home runs over the last 10 games.
Bryan Reynolds has a .263 batting average to lead the Pirates, and has 16 doubles, two triples and eight home runs. Rowdy Tellez is 11-for-29 with a home run and seven RBI over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 5-5, .252 batting average, 3.44 ERA, outscored opponents by three runs
Pirates: 6-4, .245 batting average, 3.54 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs
INJURIES: Cardinals: Lars Nootbaar: 10-Day IL (oblique), Nick Robertson: 15-Day IL (elbow), Riley O'Brien: 60-Day IL (forearm), Willson Contreras: 10-Day IL (arm), Giovanny Gallegos: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Tommy Edman: 60-Day IL (wrist), Steven Matz: 15-Day IL (back), Drew Rom: 60-Day IL (biceps), Keynan Middleton: 15-Day IL (forearm)
Pirates: Ryan Borucki: 60-Day IL (tricep), Quinn Priester: 15-Day IL (undisclosed), Ji-Hwan Bae: 10-Day IL (undisclosed), Marco Gonzales: 60-Day IL (forearm), Alika Williams: 10-Day IL (wrist), Martin Perez: 15-Day IL (groin), Joey Bart: 10-Day IL (thumb), Dauri Moreta: 60-Day IL (elbow), Endy Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.