Cardinals play the Mets in first of 3-game series

New York Mets (21-11, first in the NL East) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (14-18, fourth in the NL Central)

St. Louis; Friday, 8:15 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Mets: Clay Holmes (3-1, 2.64 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 36 strikeouts); Cardinals: Sonny Gray (3-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 33 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Mets -122, Cardinals +102; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the New York Mets on Friday to start a three-game series.

St. Louis has gone 10-5 in home games and 14-18 overall. The Cardinals have the 10th-best team slugging percentage in the majors at .397.

New York has a 21-11 record overall and an 8-8 record in road games. The Mets have hit 36 total home runs to rank fourth in the NL.

The teams match up Friday for the fifth time this season. The Mets lead the season series 4-0.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brendan Donovan has nine doubles, three home runs and 17 RBI while hitting .333 for the Cardinals. Willson Contreras is 12-for-36 with a double and two home runs over the last 10 games.

Pete Alonso has seven home runs, 24 walks and 28 RBI while hitting .342 for the Mets. Francisco Lindor is 14-for-39 with a double, three home runs and seven RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 5-5, .242 batting average, 4.19 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs

Mets: 6-4, .273 batting average, 3.43 ERA, outscored opponents by 22 runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: Ivan Herrera: 10-Day IL (foot), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat)

Mets: A.J. Minter: 60-Day IL (lat), Francelis Montas: 60-Day IL (lat), Danny Young: 15-Day IL (elbow), Brooks Raley: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sean Manaea: 60-Day IL (oblique), Jose Siri: 10-Day IL (shin), Paul Blackburn: 15-Day IL (knee), Ronny Mauricio: 10-Day IL (knee), Nick Madrigal: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Andrew Smith: 60-Day IL (elbow), Christian Scott: 60-Day IL (elbow)

___

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