Chicago Cubs (56-50, second in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (57-49, first in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Wednesday, 8:15 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cubs: Kyle Hendricks (7-8, 3.26 ERA) Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (7-10, 4.19 ERA)
BOTTOM LINE: Division rivals St. Louis and Chicago will play on Wednesday at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals are 25-19 against opponents from the NL Central. The St. Louis pitching staff owns a team ERA of 4.12, Dakota Hudson leads the staff with a mark of 3.88.
The Cubs are 21-20 against the rest of their division. Chicago's team on-base percentage of .326 is ninth in the MLB. Kris Bryant leads the lineup with an OBP of .390. The Cardinals won the last meeting 2-1. Giovanny Gallegos recorded his third victory and Paul Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI for St. Louis. Yu Darvish registered his fifth loss for Chicago.
TOP PERFORMERS: Goldschmidt leads the Cardinals with 25 home runs and is slugging .472. Tommy Edman has 12 hits and is batting .308 over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
Javier Baez leads the Cubs with 25 home runs and is batting .285. Kyle Schwarber is 5-for-29 with three home runs and eight RBIs over the last 10 games for Chicago.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 7-3, .237 batting average, 4.10 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs
Cubs: 4-6, .213 batting average, 3.89 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs
Cardinals Injuries: Jordan Hicks: 60-day IL (elbow), Brett Cecil: 60-day IL (wrist/forearm), Marcell Ozuna: 10-day IL (hand), Jedd Gyorko: 60-day IL (back), Matt Carpenter: 10-day IL (foot), Yadier Molina: 10-day IL (thumb).
Cubs Injuries: Allen Webster: 60-day IL (hand), Pedro Strop: 10-day IL (neck), Brandon Morrow: 60-day IL (elbow), Cole Hamels: 10-day IL (oblique), Kendall Graveman: 60-day IL (elbow), Xavier Cedeno: 60-day IL (wrist), Daniel Descalso: 10-day IL (ankle).
