Pirates play the Cardinals leading series 2-1

Pittsburgh Pirates (59-75, fifth in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (65-69, fourth in the NL Central)

St. Louis; Thursday, 2:15 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Braxton Ashcraft (4-2, 2.70 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 43 strikeouts); Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (6-10, 5.17 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 81 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates bring a 2-1 advantage into the next game of the series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis has a 36-32 record in home games and a 65-69 record overall. The Cardinals have gone 34-16 in games when they did not allow a home run.

Pittsburgh has a 20-45 record on the road and a 59-75 record overall. The Pirates have gone 19-52 in games when they have given up a home run.

The teams match up Thursday for the 13th time this season. The Pirates lead the season series 7-5.

TOP PERFORMERS: Alec Burleson has 21 doubles, a triple and 16 home runs for the Cardinals. Lars Nootbaar is 11 for 39 with two doubles over the last 10 games.

Bryan Reynolds has 34 doubles, three triples and 14 home runs for the Pirates. Jared Triolo is 12 for 31 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and five RBIs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 4-6, .223 batting average, 5.07 ERA, outscored by 11 runs

Pirates: 7-3, .262 batting average, 2.55 ERA, outscored opponents by 21 runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: John King: 15-Day IL (back), Brendan Donovan: 10-Day IL (groin), Victor Scott II: 10-Day IL (ankle), Nolan Arenado: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat)

Pirates: Endy Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Enmanuel Valdez: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Justin Lawrence: 60-Day IL (elbow), Tim Mayza: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jared Jones: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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