Castillo expected to start as Reds host the Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals (50-46, second in the NL Central) vs. Cincinnati Reds (43-52, fifth in the NL Central)
Cincinnati; Saturday, 7 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (6-9, 4.15 ERA) Reds: Luis Castillo (9-3, 2.41 ERA)
LINE: Reds favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 9 runs
BOTTOM LINE:
The Reds are 19-25 against the rest of their division. The Cincinnati pitching staff owns a team ERA of 3.96, Luis Castillo leads the staff with a mark of 2.49.
The Cardinals are 19-18 against teams from the NL Central. The St. Louis pitching staff has a combined team ERA of 4.12, Jack Flaherty paces the staff with a mark of 4.41. The Cardinals won the last meeting 12-11. Michael Wacha recorded his sixth victory and Paul DeJong went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBIs for St. Louis. Jared Hughes took his third loss for Cincinnati.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yasiel Puig leads the Reds with 89 hits and is batting .263. Jose Peraza is 10-for-20 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and seven RBIs over the last 10 games for Cincinnati.
Paul Goldschmidt leads the Cardinals with 18 home runs and has 44 RBIs. Tyler O'Neill has 14 hits and is batting .412 over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
LAST 10 GAMES: Reds: 2-8, .282 batting average, 6.39 ERA, outscored by 14 runs
Cardinals: 6-4, .245 batting average, 3.99 ERA, outscored opponents by eight runs
Reds Injuries: Alex Wood: 60-day IL (back), David Hernandez: 10-day IL (shoulder), Amir Garrett: 10-day IL (lat), Nick Senzel: day-to-day (hamstring), Derek Dietrich: day-to-day (knee), Kyle Farmer: 7-day IL (concussion), Curt Casali: 10-day IL (knee), Tucker Barnhart: 10-day IL (oblique).
Cardinals Injuries: Mike Mayers: 60-day IL (shoulder), 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).
