Seattle faces St. Louis, aims to build on Leake's strong outing
St. Louis Cardinals (42-42, third in the NL Central) vs. Seattle Mariners (38-52, fifth in the NL West)
Seattle; Thursday, 4 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Michael Wacha (5-4, 5.30 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 62 strikeouts) Mariners: TBD
BOTTOM LINE: Seattle heads into the matchup fresh off a dominant performance by Mike Leake. Leake threw 7 2/3 innings, surrendering zero runs on five hits with seven strikeouts against St. Louis.
The Mariners are 18-26 on their home turf. Seattle has hit 153 home runs this season, second in the league. Daniel Vogelbach leads the club with 20, averaging one every 13.1 at-bats.
The Cardinals are 18-24 in road games. The St. Louis pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 4.14. Dakota Hudson leads the team with a 3.40 earned run average. The Cardinals won the last meeting 5-2. John Brebbia earned his second victory and Tommy Edman went 1-for-1 with a home run and three RBIs for St. Louis. Austin Adams took his first loss for Seattle.
TOP PERFORMERS: Domingo Santana leads the Mariners with 95 hits and has 63 RBIs. J.P. Crawford is 13-for-43 with two doubles, two triples, two home runs and 10 RBIs over the last 10 games for Seattle.
Paul DeJong leads the Cardinals with 34 extra base hits and has 36 RBIs. Jose Martinez is 10-for-39 with a double, three home runs and four RBIs over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
LAST 10 GAMES: Mariners: 4-6, .225 batting average, 3.97 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs
Cardinals: 4-6, .229 batting average, 3.74 ERA, outscored by 10 runs
Mariners Injuries: Arodys Vizcaino: 60-day IL (shoulder), Sam Tuivailala: 60-day IL (achilles/shoulder), Hunter Strickland: 60-day IL (lat), Connor Sadzeck: 10-day IL (elbow), Felix Hernandez: 10-day IL (shoulder), Brandon Brennan: 10-day IL (shoulder), Chasen Bradford: 60-day IL (forearm), Mitch Haniger: 10-day IL (testicle), Braden Bishop: 10-day IL (neck), Ryon Healy: 10-day IL (back).
Cardinals Injuries: Mike Mayers: 60-day IL (shoulder), Jordan Hicks: 10-day IL (elbow), Brett Cecil: 60-day IL (wrist/forearm), Marcell Ozuna: 10-day IL (hand), Jedd Gyorko: 10-day IL (back), Matt Carpenter: 10-day IL (back).
