Rays and Cardinals meet in series rubber match

Updated Aug. 10, 2023 4:00 a.m. ET

Associated Press

St. Louis Cardinals (50-65, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (69-47, second in the AL East)

St. Petersburg, Florida; Thursday, 6:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore (1-4, 6.93 ERA, 1.78 WHIP, 23 strikeouts); Rays: Zack Littell (2-2, 4.04 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 31 strikeouts)

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Rays -178, Cardinals +151; over/under is 9 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals play on Thursday with the winner claiming the three-game series.

Tampa Bay has a 69-47 record overall and a 38-20 record at home. The Rays have hit 170 total home runs to rank second in the AL.

St. Louis has gone 25-32 in road games and 50-65 overall. Cardinals hitters have a collective .330 on-base percentage, the fifth-best percentage in MLB play.

The teams square off Thursday for the third time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Yandy Diaz leads the Rays with a .318 batting average, and has 22 doubles, 16 home runs, 46 walks and 56 RBI. Wander Franco is 16-for-39 with five home runs and seven RBI over the past 10 games.

Lars Nootbaar has 15 doubles, a triple and 12 home runs for the Cardinals. Nolan Gorman is 11-for-38 with a double and four home runs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 6-4, .267 batting average, 4.86 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs

Cardinals: 4-6, .252 batting average, 3.54 ERA, outscored by two runs

INJURIES: Rays: Tyler Glasnow: day-to-day (back), Shane McClanahan: 15-Day IL (forearm), Taylor Walls: 10-Day IL (oblique), Francisco Mejia: 10-Day IL (knee), Josh Fleming: 60-Day IL (elbow), Drew Rasmussen: 60-Day IL (flexor), Garrett Cleavinger: 60-Day IL (knee), Jeffrey Springs: 60-Day IL (elbow), Shane Baz: 60-Day IL (elbow), Andrew Kittredge: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Cardinals: Tyler O'Neill: day-to-day (knee), Brendan Donovan: 10-Day IL (elbow), Ryan Helsley: 60-Day IL (forearm), Jake Woodford: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Packy Naughton: 60-Day IL (forearm), Wilking Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.