Cincinnati takes 4-game losing streak into matchup with St. Louis

Cincinnati Reds (9-9, third in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (8-10, fifth in the NL Central)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Sonny Gray (0-0, 4.15 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 6 strikeouts) Cardinals: Kwang Hyun Kim (0-0, 9.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP, 4 strikeouts)

LINE: Cardinals -107, Reds -109; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

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

The Cardinals are 2-4 against NL Central opponents. St. Louis has hit 25 home runs this season, sixth in the majors. Paul DeJong leads them with five, averaging one every 12 at-bats.

The Reds are 5-1 against the rest of their division. Cincinnati has slugged .476, the best mark in the National League. Jesse Winker leads the club with a .667 slugging percentage, including eight extra-base hits.

The Reds won the last meeting 12-1. Jeff Hoffman earned his first victory and Nicholas Castellanos went 2-for-4 with a triple, a home run and three RBIs for Cincinnati. Carlos Martinez took his first loss for St. Louis.

TOP PERFORMERS: Dylan Carlson leads the Cardinals with eight extra base hits and is slugging .526.

Nick Castellanos leads the Reds with 20 hits and is batting .299.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 3-7, .232 batting average, 4.40 ERA, outscored by three runs

Reds: 3-7, .219 batting average, 4.60 ERA, outscored by 10 runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas: (right shoulder), Dakota Hudson: (right elbow), Tyler O'Neill: (right groin), Harrison Bader: (right forearm).

Reds: Michael Lorenzen: (shoulder), Brandon Bailey: (elbow), Aristides Aquino: (hand), Shogo Akiyama: (hamstring), Mike Moustakas: (undisclosed).

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