Cardinals play the Royals in first of 3-game series

Kansas City Royals (31-29, fourth in the AL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (33-26, second in the NL Central)

St. Louis; Tuesday, 7:45 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Michael Lorenzen (3-6, 4.33 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 52 strikeouts); Cardinals: Andre Pallante (4-3, 4.23 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 42 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cardinals -143, Royals +121; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday to open a three-game series.

St. Louis has a 33-26 record overall and a 19-8 record at home. The Cardinals have the fifth-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .328.

Kansas City is 31-29 overall and 12-16 in road games. The Royals have a 26-10 record in games when they record at least eight hits.

The teams square off Tuesday for the fourth time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brendan Donovan has 18 doubles and four home runs for the Cardinals. Masyn Winn is 12 for 39 with three doubles and a home run over the last 10 games.

Vinnie Pasquantino leads the Royals with eight home runs while slugging .395. Salvador Perez is 11 for 39 with two home runs and five RBIs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 6-4, .219 batting average, 4.14 ERA, outscored by 14 runs

Royals: 4-6, .271 batting average, 3.73 ERA, outscored by seven runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: Jordan Walker: 10-Day IL (wrist), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat)

Royals: Maikel Garcia: day-to-day (thumb), Lucas Erceg: 15-Day IL (back), Cole Ragans: 15-Day IL (groin), Alec Marsh: 60-Day IL (shoulder), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow), Hunter Harvey: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Sam Long: 15-Day IL (elbow), Kyle Wright: 15-Day IL (shoulder)

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