St. Louis Cardinals (52-47, second in the NL Central) vs. Washington Nationals (34-66, fifth in the NL East)
Washington; Friday, 7:05 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (7-8, 2.87 ERA, .99 WHIP, 96 strikeouts); Nationals: Anibal Sanchez (0-2, 6.30 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, nine strikeouts)
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cardinals -183, Nationals +154; over/under is 9 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Washington Nationals host the St. Louis Cardinals to begin a three-game series.
Washington has a 15-36 record in home games and a 34-66 record overall. The Nationals have a 9-15 record in games decided by one run.
St. Louis is 52-47 overall and 23-27 in road games. Cardinals hitters are batting a collective .252, which ranks third in the NL.
The teams meet Friday for the first time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Josh Bell has a .305 batting average to rank second on the Nationals, and has 23 doubles, three triples and 13 home runs. Cesar Hernandez is 10-for-37 with two RBI over the past 10 games.
Tommy Edman has 17 doubles, three triples and seven home runs while hitting .256 for the Cardinals. Nolan Gorman is 5-for-30 with three home runs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Nationals: 4-6, .232 batting average, 5.07 ERA, outscored by 15 runs
Cardinals: 5-5, .274 batting average, 5.07 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs
INJURIES: Nationals: Tyler Clippard: 15-Day IL (groin), Stephen Strasburg: 60-Day IL (ribs), Tanner Rainey: 60-Day IL (elbow), Jackson Tetreault: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Reed Garrett: 15-Day IL (biceps), Carter Kieboom: 60-Day IL (forearm), Evan Lee: 15-Day IL (flexor), Sean Doolittle: 60-Day IL (elbow), Will Harris: 60-Day IL (pectoral), Seth Romero: 60-Day IL (calf), Joe Ross: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Cardinals: Steven Matz: 15-Day IL (knee), Drew VerHagen: 15-Day IL (hip), Juan Yepez: 10-Day IL (forearm), Dakota Hudson: 15-Day IL (neck), Jack Flaherty: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Harrison Bader: 10-Day IL (foot), Yadier Molina: 10-Day IL (knee), Alex Reyes: 60-Day IL (shoulder)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
