St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates play in game 2 of series

Updated Jul. 3, 2024 4:01 a.m. ET

Associated Press

St. Louis Cardinals (44-40, second in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (40-44, third in the NL Central)

Pittsburgh; Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (6-7, 5.32 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 68 strikeouts); Pirates: Jared Jones (5-6, 3.66 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 93 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Pirates -127, Cardinals +107; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals face the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 1-0 series lead.

Pittsburgh is 40-44 overall and 19-21 in home games. The Pirates have gone 24-6 in games when they scored five or more runs.

St. Louis has gone 20-22 in road games and 44-40 overall. The Cardinals have a 13-8 record in games when they hit at least two home runs.

The teams square off Wednesday for the fifth time this season. The Cardinals are ahead 3-1 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Bryan Reynolds leads the Pirates with 13 home runs while slugging .460. Nick Gonzales is 9-for-35 with two doubles and two RBI over the last 10 games.

Brendan Donovan has eight home runs, 24 walks and 42 RBI while hitting .270 for the Cardinals. Alec Burleson is 12-for-37 with three doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 4-6, .208 batting average, 4.70 ERA, outscored by 12 runs

Cardinals: 7-3, .263 batting average, 3.50 ERA, outscored opponents by one run

INJURIES: Pirates: Dennis Santana: day-to-day (arm), David Bednar: 15-Day IL (oblique), Henry Davis: 7-Day IL (head), Hunter Stratton: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Ryan Borucki: 60-Day IL (tricep), Quinn Priester: 15-Day IL (undisclosed), Marco Gonzales: 60-Day IL (forearm), Dauri Moreta: 60-Day IL (elbow), Endy Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Cardinals: Steven Matz: 60-Day IL (back), Keynan Middleton: 60-Day IL (forearm), Ivan Herrera: 10-Day IL (back), Lars Nootbaar: 10-Day IL (oblique), Nick Robertson: 15-Day IL (elbow), Riley O'Brien: 60-Day IL (forearm), Tommy Edman: 60-Day IL (wrist), Drew Rom: 60-Day IL (biceps)

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