St. Louis takes 3-game slide into matchup with Texas
St. Louis Cardinals (23-22, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Texas Rangers (20-22, third in the NL West)
Arlington, Texas; Saturday, 4 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Dakota Hudson (2-3, 4.61 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 31 strikeouts) Rangers: Ariel Jurado (2-1, 1.50 ERA, .92 WHIP, 7 strikeouts)
LINE: Cardinals favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 12 runs
BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis enters the game as losers of their last three games.
The Rangers are 13-7 in home games. The Texas pitching staff owns a team ERA of 5.24, Mike Minor leads the staff with a mark of 2.61.
The Cardinals are 9-13 in road games. The St. Louis offense has compiled a .263 batting average as a team this season, good for fourth in the National League. Jose Martinez leads the team with an average of .346. The Rangers won the last meeting 7-3. Adrian Sampson earned his first victory and Rougned Odor went 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs for Texas. Miles Mikolas registered his fourth loss for St. Louis.
TOP PERFORMERS: Joey Gallo leads the Rangers with 32 RBIs and is batting .276. Hunter Pence is 10-for-33 with three doubles, five home runs and 14 RBIs over the last 10 games for Texas.
Paul DeJong leads the Cardinals with 22 extra base hits and has 18 RBIs. Marcell Ozuna is 5-for-40 with a double, two home runs and nine RBIs over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 4-6, .262 batting average, 5.46 ERA, outscored by two runs
Cardinals: 3-7, .251 batting average, 4.97 ERA, outscored by six runs
Rangers Injuries: Edinson Volquez: 60-day IL (elbow), Drew Smyly: day-to-day (ankle), Yohander Mendez: 60-day IL (elbow), Shawn Kelley: 10-day IL (infection), Taylor Hearn: 10-day IL (elbow), Luke Farrell: 60-day IL (jaw), Scott Heineman: 60-day IL (shoulder), Elvis Andrus: 10-day IL (hamstring).
Cardinals Injuries: Mike Mayers: 10-day IL (shoulder), Brett Cecil: 60-day IL (wrist/forearm).
