Cardinals take 4-game skid into matchup with Pirates

Pittsburgh Pirates (27-46, fifth in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (36-39, fourth in the NL Central)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Wil Crowe (0-4, 6.42 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 38 strikeouts) Cardinals: Kwang Hyun Kim (1-5, 3.60 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 44 strikeouts)

LINE: Cardinals -175, Pirates +151; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

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

The Cardinals are 13-15 against the rest of their division. St. Louis has a collective on-base percentage of .293, last in the National League. Dylan Carlson leads the club with a mark of .350.

The Pirates are 8-22 against opponents from the NL Central. Pittsburgh has slugged .356, last in the majors. Bryan Reynolds leads the club with a .539 slugging percentage, including 33 extra-base hits and 13 home runs.

The Pirates won the last meeting 8-2. Chad Kuhl earned his second victory and Reynolds went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs for Pittsburgh. Carlos Martinez took his ninth loss for St. Louis.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nolan Arenado leads the Cardinals with 36 extra base hits and is batting .264.

Reynolds leads the Pirates with 13 home runs and has 42 RBIs.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 4-6, .200 batting average, 4.00 ERA, outscored by 17 runs

Pirates: 4-6, .253 batting average, 4.40 ERA, outscored by two 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.