St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds play in game 2 of series

Updated Sep. 9, 2023 4:39 a.m. ET

Associated Press

St. Louis Cardinals (62-79, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Cincinnati Reds (73-70, third in the NL Central)

Cincinnati; Saturday, 6:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Zack Thompson (4-5, 3.91 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 53 strikeouts); Reds: Carson Spiers (0-0, 6.75 ERA, 1.75 WHIP, seven strikeouts)

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cardinals -134, Reds +113; over/under is 10 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals lead 1-0 in a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincinnati has gone 35-38 in home games and 73-70 overall. The Reds are eighth in the NL with 165 total home runs, averaging 1.2 per game.

St. Louis has a 31-39 record in road games and a 62-79 record overall. Cardinals hitters have a collective .429 slugging percentage to rank fourth in the NL.

The teams match up Saturday for the ninth time this season. The season series is tied 4-4.

TOP PERFORMERS: TJ Friedl leads the Reds with a .268 batting average, and has 20 doubles, six triples, 12 home runs, 35 walks and 51 RBI. Christian Encarnacion-Strand is 14-for-38 with two home runs and six RBI over the past 10 games.

Paul Goldschmidt leads the Cardinals with a .275 batting average, and has 26 doubles, 23 home runs, 76 walks and 73 RBI. Jordan Walker is 17-for-38 with four home runs and nine RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Reds: 5-5, .263 batting average, 5.16 ERA, outscored by 17 runs

Cardinals: 6-4, .253 batting average, 4.75 ERA, outscored opponents by nine runs

INJURIES: Reds: Brandon Williamson: 15-Day IL (covid), Graham Ashcraft: 15-Day IL (toe), Ben Lively: 10-Day IL (covid-19), Hunter Greene: 10-Day IL (covid-19), Matt McLain: 10-Day IL (oblique), Alex Young: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Joey Votto: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Kevin Newman: 10-Day IL (oblique), Jonathan India: 10-Day IL (heel), Curt Casali: 10-Day IL (foot), Nick Lodolo: 60-Day IL (calf), Reiver Sanmartin: 60-Day IL (elbow), Connor Overton: 60-Day IL (elbow), Justin Dunn: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Vladimir Gutierrez: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Cardinals: JoJo Romero: 15-Day IL (knee), Guillermo Zuniga: 60-Day IL (forearm), Brendan Donovan: 60-Day IL (elbow), Steven Matz: 15-Day IL (lat), Dylan Carlson: 10-Day IL (oblique), 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.