Los Angeles Dodgers (79-67, second in NL West) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (81-65, third in NL Central)

St. Louis; Thursday, 7:15 p.m. Eastern

PROBABLE PITCHERS: Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw (7-5, 2.43 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 134 strikeouts) Cardinals: Austin Gomber (5-0, 2.94 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 51 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis hosts Los Angeles to kick off a four-game series. The Cardinals have gone 7-1 in games started by Gomber. St. Louis’ lineup has 190 home runs this year, led by Matt Carpenter’s mark of 35. The Dodgers are 13-17 against NL Central teams. Los Angeles gives up 1.9 runs per game when Kershaw starts. Paul DeJong helped the Cardinals earn a 3-1 win when these two teams last met on Aug. 22. He went 1-for-4 with two RBIs.

TOP PERFORMERS: Cody Bellinger leads the Dodgers with 131 hits on the season. He’s batting .257 on the year. Justin Turner has 10 hits and is batting .278 over his past 10 games for Los Angeles. Marcell Ozuna has 21 home runs and 80 RBIs this year for the Cardinals. Paul DeJong has 10 hits and is batting .263 over his past 10 games for St. Louis.

LAST 10 GAMES: Dodgers: 5-5, .239 batting average, 4.14 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs. Cardinals: 5-5, .246 batting average, 4.68 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs.

CARDINALS INJURIES: The St. Louis Cardinals transferred RHP Michael Wacha from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list on Monday.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.