Cardinals host the Royals to open 2-game series

Kansas City Royals (49-43, third in the AL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (48-42, second in the NL Central)

St. Louis; Tuesday, 7:45 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Michael Wacha (5-6, 3.74 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 75 strikeouts); Cardinals: Andre Pallante (4-3, 4.00 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 36 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the Kansas City Royals to open a two-game series.

St. Louis has gone 24-18 in home games and 48-42 overall. The Cardinals have the eighth-ranked team batting average in the NL at .243.

Kansas City is 49-43 overall and 18-25 in road games. Royals hitters have a collective .306 on-base percentage, the 10th-ranked percentage in the AL.

Tuesday's game is the first meeting between these teams this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brendan Donovan has 20 doubles, a triple and eight home runs for the Cardinals. Willson Contreras is 10-for-37 with two doubles, three home runs and eight RBI over the past 10 games.

Bobby Witt Jr. leads Kansas City with 15 home runs while slugging .564. Vinnie Pasquantino is 14-for-41 with three home runs and 10 RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 7-3, .271 batting average, 3.32 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs

Royals: 5-5, .271 batting average, 3.68 ERA, outscored opponents by eight runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: Steven Matz: 60-Day IL (back), Keynan Middleton: 60-Day IL (forearm), Ivan Herrera: 10-Day IL (back), Nick Robertson: 15-Day IL (elbow), Riley O'Brien: 60-Day IL (forearm), Tommy Edman: 60-Day IL (wrist), Drew Rom: 60-Day IL (biceps)

Royals: Dan Altavilla: 60-Day IL (oblique), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), Kyle Wright: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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