St. Louis Cardinals (12-16, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Cincinnati Reds (15-13, second in the NL Central)

Cincinnati; Monday, 6:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Andre Pallante (2-1, 4.05 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 16 strikeouts); Reds: Nick Martinez (0-3, 5.40 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 23 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Reds -123, Cardinals +104; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Cincinnati Reds host the St. Louis Cardinals to open a four-game series.

Cincinnati has a 15-13 record overall and a 6-6 record at home. Reds hitters are batting a collective .254, the sixth-best team batting average in MLB play.

St. Louis is 12-16 overall and 2-11 in road games. The Cardinals have a 7-11 record in games when they have given up a home run.

Monday’s game is the first meeting between these teams this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: TJ Friedl has six doubles, a triple, a home run and 12 RBI while hitting .294 for the Reds. Gavin Lux is 18-for-36 with two doubles and a home run over the last 10 games.

Lars Nootbaar has four doubles and four home runs for the Cardinals. Willson Eduardo Contreras is 13-for-38 with two doubles and a home run over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Reds: 6-4, .319 batting average, 4.30 ERA, outscored opponents by 28 runs

Cardinals: 3-7, .237 batting average, 4.93 ERA, outscored by 12 runs

INJURIES: Reds: Ian Gibaut: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Carson Spiers: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Christian Encarnacion-Strand: 10-Day IL (back), Sam Moll: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Brandon Williamson: 60-Day IL (elbow), Tyler Stephenson: 10-Day IL (oblique), Rhett Lowder: 15-Day IL (forearm), Julian Aguiar: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Cardinals: Ivan Herrera: 10-Day IL (foot), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat)

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