San Diego Padres (55-47, second in the NL West) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (52-51, fourth in the NL Central)
St. Louis; Thursday, 7:45 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Padres: Yu Darvish (0-2, 6.08 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, eight strikeouts); Cardinals: Sonny Gray (9-4, 4.04 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 123 strikeouts)
Cardinals -138, Padres +116; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals host the San Diego Padres on Thursday to start a four-game series.
St. Louis has a 52-51 record overall and a 29-20 record at home. Cardinals hitters are batting a collective .252, the 10th-best team batting average in MLB play.
San Diego has gone 24-29 on the road and 55-47 overall. Padres pitchers have a collective 3.60 ERA, which ranks sixth in MLB play.
The teams meet Thursday for the first time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Brendan Donovan has 24 doubles and eight home runs for the Cardinals. Willson Contreras is 13 for 41 with five doubles, two home runs and six RBIs over the past 10 games.
Luis Arraez has a .285 batting average to lead the Padres, and has 18 doubles, four triples and five home runs. Xander Bogaerts is 13 for 37 with a home run and five RBIs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 3-7, .264 batting average, 5.29 ERA, outscored by 15 runs
Padres: 6-4, .259 batting average, 2.48 ERA, outscored opponents by 12 runs
INJURIES: Cardinals: Thomas Saggese: day-to-day (undisclosed), Nolan Gorman: 10-Day IL (back), Lars Nootbaar: 10-Day IL (ribs), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat)
Padres: Michael King: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jhony Brito: 60-Day IL (forearm), Joe Musgrove: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by and data from .
