Guardians play the Cardinals in first of 3-game series

St. Louis Cardinals (44-38, third in the NL Central) vs. Cleveland Guardians (40-39, second in the AL Central)

Cleveland; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Sonny Gray (7-2, 3.72 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 90 strikeouts); Guardians: Luis Ortiz (4-8, 4.30 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 91 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cardinals -130, Guardians +109; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians host the St. Louis Cardinals to start a three-game series.

Cleveland has gone 20-17 at home and 40-39 overall. The Guardians have a 27-5 record in games when they out-hit their opponents.

St. Louis is 18-21 on the road and 44-38 overall. The Cardinals have the 10th-best team batting average in MLB play at .253.

Friday’s game is the first time these teams match up this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Ramirez has a .317 batting average to lead the Guardians, and has 16 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs. Steven Kwan is 12 for 36 with an RBI over the past 10 games.

Nolan Arenado has 11 doubles, a triple and 10 home runs while hitting .242 for the Cardinals. Alec Burleson is 12 for 41 with two doubles and four home runs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Guardians: 5-5, .203 batting average, 3.58 ERA, outscored by 12 runs

Cardinals: 7-3, .239 batting average, 3.87 ERA, outscored opponents by 12 runs

INJURIES: Guardians: Jose Ramirez: day-to-day (forearm), Andrew Walters: 60-Day IL (lat), Ben Lively: 60-Day IL (forearm), Will Brennan: 10-Day IL (forearm), Paul Sewald: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Shane Bieber: 60-Day IL (elbow), Erik Sabrowski: 60-Day IL (elbow), Trevor Stephan: 60-Day IL (elbow), John Means: 60-Day IL (elbow), Sam Hentges: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

Cardinals: Jordan Walker: 10-Day IL (appendicitis), Ivan Herrera: 10-Day IL (hamstring), 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.