Chicago Cubs (69-90, fourth in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (89-70, second in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Friday, 8:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cubs: Zach Davies (6-12, 5.78 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 114 strikeouts) Cardinals: Dakota Hudson (1-0, 4.91 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 2 strikeouts)
LINE: Cardinals -200, Cubs +170; over/under is 7 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis and Chicago will play on Friday.
The Cardinals are 44-34 on their home turf. St. Louis has slugged .410 this season. Tyler O'Neill leads the club with a .538 slugging percentage, including 58 extra-base hits and 32 home runs.
The Cubs are 30-48 on the road. Chicago has hit 207 home runs as a team this season. Ian Happ leads them with 24, averaging one every 19 at-bats.
The Cardinals won the last meeting 4-2. Genesis Cabrera earned his fourth victory and Paul Goldschmidt went 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI for St. Louis. Codi Heuer registered his fourth loss for Chicago.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Arenado leads the Cardinals with 71 extra base hits and is batting .256.
Happ leads the Cubs with 102 hits and is batting .223.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 9-1, .277 batting average, 3.35 ERA, outscored opponents by 29 runs
Cubs: 3-7, .282 batting average, 6.04 ERA, outscored by 11 runs
INJURIES: Cardinals: Justin Miller: (elbow), Carlos Martinez: (thumb), Wade LeBlanc: (elbow), Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Ryan Helsley: (elbow), Junior Fernandez: (shoulder), Max Moroff: (shoulder), Yadier Molina: (shoulder).
Cubs: Brad Wieck: (heart), Keegan Thompson: (shoulder), Kohl Stewart: (elbow), Manuel Rodriguez: (shoulder), Jonathan Holder: (shoulder), Jason Heyward: (concussion), Michael Hermosillo: (forearm), Patrick Wisdom: (wrist), Alfonso Rivas: (finger), Nick Madrigal: (hamstring), Nico Hoerner: (soreness), Austin Romine: (undisclosed), Jose Lobaton: (shoulder), P.J. Higgins: (forearm), Robinson Chirinos: (oblique).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
