Cardinals face Cubs, look to build on 4-game win streak
St. Louis Cardinals (88-67, first in the NL Central) vs. Chicago Cubs (82-73, third in the NL Central)
Chicago; Sunday, 2 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (9-14, 4.29 ERA) Cubs: Yu Darvish (6-7, 4.02 ERA)
BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis enters the game as winners of their last four games.
The Cubs are 35-34 against opponents from the NL Central. The Chicago pitching staff has a team ERA of 4.06, Kyle Hendricks paces the staff with a mark of 3.37.
The Cardinals are 44-28 against opponents from the NL Central. The St. Louis pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 3.80. Jack Flaherty leads the team with a 2.96 earned run average. The Cardinals won the last meeting 9-8. John Gant notched his 11th victory and Marcell Ozuna went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs for St. Louis. Craig Kimbrel registered his fourth loss for Chicago.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nicholas Castellanos leads the Cubs with 87 extra base hits and is batting .292. Kyle Schwarber is 14-for-36 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs and nine RBIs over the last 10 games for Chicago.
Paul Goldschmidt leads the Cardinals with 91 RBIs and is batting .256. Tommy Edman has 13 hits and is batting .406 over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cubs: 5-5, .288 batting average, 3.72 ERA, outscored opponents by 35 runs
Cardinals: 7-3, .235 batting average, 3.46 ERA, outscored opponents by 18 runs
Cubs Injuries: Allen Webster: (hand), Brandon Morrow: (elbow), Brandon Kintzler: (oblique), Cole Hamels: (shoulder), Kendall Graveman: (elbow), Xavier Cedeno: (wrist), Javier Baez: (thumb).
Cardinals Injuries: Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Tony Cingrani: (shoulder), Brett Cecil: (wrist/forearm), Lane Thomas: (wrist), Kolten Wong: (hamstring).
