Chicago Cubs (47-49, third in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (48-48, fourth in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Thursday, 7:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cubs: Adbert Alzolay (4-9, 4.59 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 83 strikeouts) Cardinals: Kwang Hyun Kim (5-5, 2.87 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 60 strikeouts)
LINE: Cardinals -133, Cubs +113; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis and Chicago will meet on Thursday.
The Cardinals are 27-20 in home games in 2020. The St. Louis pitching staff averages 8 strikeouts per nine innings, Adam Wainwright leads them with a mark of 8.4.
The Cubs have gone 19-32 away from home. Chicago has slugged .392 this season. Kris Bryant leads the team with a mark of .489.
The Cardinals won the last meeting 3-2. T.J. McFarland recorded his first victory and Harrison Bader went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI for St. Louis. Craig Kimbrel took his third loss for Chicago.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Arenado leads the Cardinals with 45 extra base hits and is slugging .487.
Javier Baez leads the Cubs with 21 home runs and is slugging .483.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 6-4, .270 batting average, 4.15 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs
Cubs: 5-5, .233 batting average, 4.38 ERA, outscored by five runs
INJURIES: Cardinals: Daniel Ponce de Leon: (shoulder), Miles Mikolas: (forearm), Carlos Martinez: (thumb), Dakota Hudson: (right elbow), Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Jack Flaherty: (oblique), Max Moroff: (shoulder).
Cubs: Brad Wieck: (heart), Rowan Wick: (oblique), Kohl Stewart: (elbow), Jonathan Holder: (shoulder), Jake Arrieta: (hamstring), Matt Duffy: (back), Kris Bryant: (hamstring), David Bote: (shoulder), Austin Romine: (left wrist), Jose Lobaton: (shoulder), P.J. Higgins: (forearm).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
