Cardinals take 3-game slide into matchup with Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates (26-46, fifth in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (36-38, fourth in the NL Central)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Chad Kuhl (1-4, 5.66 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 27 strikeouts) Cardinals: Carlos Martinez (3-8, 6.35 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 47 strikeouts)

LINE: Cardinals -152, Pirates +132; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis enters the game as losers of their last three games.

The Cardinals are 13-14 against teams from the NL Central. St. Louis has a team on-base percentage of .293, last in the National League. Dylan Carlson leads the lineup with a mark of .348.

The Pirates are 7-22 against the rest of their division. Pittsburgh has hit 52 home runs this season, last in the MLB. Bryan Reynolds leads the club with 12, averaging one every 21 at-bats.

The Cardinals won the last meeting 8-5. Jack Flaherty earned his eighth victory and Tommy Edman went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for St. Louis. Trevor Cahill registered his fifth loss for Pittsburgh.

TOP PERFORMERS: Tyler O'Neill leads the Cardinals with 15 home runs and has 34 RBIs.

Reynolds leads the Pirates with 32 extra base hits and is batting .302.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 4-6, .194 batting average, 3.15 ERA, outscored by 13 runs

Pirates: 3-7, .247 batting average, 4.87 ERA, outscored by 11 runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: Kodi Whitley: (undisclosed), Daniel Ponce de Leon: (shoulder), Miles Mikolas: (forearm), Dakota Hudson: (right elbow), Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Jack Flaherty: (side), Harrison Bader: (rib), Max Moroff: (shoulder).

Pirates: Jose Soriano: (elbow), Luis Oviedo: (quad), Sam Howard: (knee), Blake Cederlind: (elbow), Trevor Cahill: (calf), Steven Brault: (lat strain).

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