Cardinals take on Pirates, look to build on 4-game win streak
St. Louis Cardinals (54-47, second in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (46-55, fifth in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Thursday, 12 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (6-10, 4.17 ERA) Pirates: Joe Musgrove (7-8, 4.08 ERA)
LINE: Pirates favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 9 runs
BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis enters the matchup as winners of their last four games.
The Pittsburgh offense has compiled a .269 batting average as a team this season, good for first in the The Cardinals are 23-19 against NL Central Division opponents. The St. Louis pitching staff owns a combined team ERA of 4.12, Adam Wainwright leads the staff with a mark of 4.54. The Cardinals won the last meeting 14-8. Wainwright earned his seventh victory and Paul DeJong went 4-for-4 with a double, three home runs and five RBIs for St. Louis. Jordan Lyles took his seventh loss for Pittsburgh.
TOP PERFORMERS: Josh Bell leads the Pirates with 27 home runs and is slugging .606. Starling Marte is 14-for-41 with six doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs over the last 10 games for Pittsburgh.
DeJong leads the Cardinals with 43 extra base hits and is slugging .471. Paul Goldschmidt is 8-for-34 with a double, four home runs and 13 RBIs over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 2-8, .255 batting average, 4.90 ERA, outscored by 21 runs
Cardinals: 8-2, .251 batting average, 4.30 ERA, outscored opponents by 19 runs
Pirates Injuries: Jameson Taillon: 60-day IL (elbow), Edgar Santana: 60-day IL (elbow), Chad Kuhl: 60-day IL (elbow), Rookie Davis: 10-day IL (finger/forearm), Nick Burdi: 60-day IL (biceps), Steven Brault: 10-day IL (shoulder), Gregory Polanco: 10-day IL (shoulder), Lonnie Chisenhall: 60-day IL (finger), Erik Gonzalez: 60-day IL (collarbone), Francisco Cervelli: 10-day IL (concussion).
Cardinals Injuries: Jordan Hicks: 60-day IL (elbow), Brett Cecil: 60-day IL (wrist/forearm), Marcell Ozuna: 10-day IL (hand), Jedd Gyorko: 10-day IL (back), Matt Carpenter: 10-day IL (foot), Yadier Molina: 10-day IL (thumb).
