San Francisco Giants (36-39, fourth in the NL West) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (36-37, second in the NL Central)
Birmingham, Alabama; Thursday, 7:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Giants: Keaton Winn (3-7, 6.66 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 46 strikeouts); Cardinals: Andre Pallante (2-3, 4.61 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 21 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Cardinals -120, Giants +101; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the San Francisco Giants to begin a three-game series.
St. Louis is 36-37 overall and 17-15 at home. The Cardinals have the 10th-ranked team slugging percentage in the NL at .374.
San Francisco has a 36-39 record overall and a 16-22 record on the road. Giants hitters have a collective .385 slugging percentage to rank ninth in the NL.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season between the two clubs.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Arenado has 13 doubles, six home runs and 32 RBI while hitting .260 for the Cardinals. Brendan Donovan is 12-for-39 with two home runs over the past 10 games.
Thairo Estrada has nine home runs, nine walks and 39 RBI while hitting .240 for the Giants. Heliot Ramos is 12-for-44 with two doubles, three home runs and nine RBI over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 6-4, .252 batting average, 2.76 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs
Giants: 4-6, .238 batting average, 4.70 ERA, outscored by three runs
INJURIES: Cardinals: Nolan Arenado: day-to-day (elbow), Kyle Gibson: day-to-day (back), 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)
Giants: Kyle Harrison: 15-Day IL (ankle), Blake Snell: 15-Day IL (groin), LaMonte Wade Jr: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Jung Hoo Lee: 60-Day IL (labrum), Tom Murphy: 60-Day IL (head), Alex Cobb: 60-Day IL (hip), Ethan Small: 60-Day IL (oblique), Austin Warren: 60-Day IL (elbow), Tristan Beck: 60-Day IL (arm), Robbie Ray: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
