St. Louis Cardinals (77-81, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (80-78, third in the NL Central)
Pittsburgh; Thursday, 12:35 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Kyle Leahy (10-5, 3.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 129 strikeouts); Pirates: Paul Skenes (10-11, 3.91 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 192 strikeouts)
LINE: Pirates -164, Cardinals +134; over/under is 7 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals play on Thursday with the winner claiming the three-game series.
Pittsburgh is 43-37 in home games and 80-78 overall. The Pirates have a 52-19 record in games when they scored five or more runs.
St. Louis has a 77-81 record overall and a 39-38 record in road games. The Cardinals have the 10th-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .315.
Thursday's game is the 13th meeting between these teams this season. The Cardinals are up 7-5 in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS: Brandon Lowe leads the Pirates with 64 extra base hits (29 doubles, a triple and 34 home runs). Rafael Flores is 12 for 33 with two doubles, two home runs and three RBIs over the last 10 games.
Jordan Walker leads the Cardinals with 28 home runs while slugging .470. Leonardo Bernal is 11 for 41 with two home runs and six RBIs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 6-4, .260 batting average, 3.94 ERA, outscored opponents by one run
Cardinals: 4-6, .205 batting average, 3.72 ERA, outscored by 13 runs
INJURIES: Pirates: Esmerlyn Valdez: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Isaac Mattson: 15-Day IL (hip), Braxton Ashcraft: 15-Day IL (arm), Endy Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (hip), Mitch Keller: 60-Day IL (arm)
Cardinals: Everson Pereira: 10-Day IL (hand), Blaze Jordan: 10-Day IL (ankle), Joshua Baez: 10-Day IL (side), Max Rajcic: 60-Day IL (elbow), Hunter Dobbins: 15-Day IL (forearm)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
