Flaherty expected to start for the Cardinals against the Pirates

Updated May. 19, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Pittsburgh Pirates (17-24, fifth in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (24-18, first in the NL Central)

St. Louis; Wednesday, 7:45 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Trevor Cahill (1-4, 5.97 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 27 strikeouts) Cardinals: Jack Flaherty (7-0, 2.47 ERA, .95 WHIP, 48 strikeouts)

LINE: Cardinals -219, Pirates +184; over/under is 7 runs

BOTTOM LINE:

The Cardinals are 11-5 against the rest of their division. St. Louis has hit 54 home runs this season, eighth in the league. Nolan Arenado leads them with 10, averaging one every 16.3 at-bats.

The Pirates are 7-15 against NL Central Division teams. Pittsburgh has slugged .344, last in the league. Bryan Reynolds leads the team with a .464 slugging percentage, including 18 extra-base hits.

The Cardinals won the last meeting 5-2. John Gant earned his third victory and Arenado went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs for St. Louis. JT Brubaker took his third loss for Pittsburgh.

TOP PERFORMERS: Arenado leads the Cardinals with 10 home runs and has 30 RBIs.

Reynolds leads the Pirates with 18 extra base hits and 15 RBIs.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 6-4, .240 batting average, 3.48 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs

Pirates: 4-6, .228 batting average, 4.65 ERA, outscored by 17 runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: Andrew Miller: (toe), Miles Mikolas: (right shoulder), Carlos Martinez: (ankle), Dakota Hudson: (right elbow), Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Tyler O'Neill: (finger), Paul DeJong: (side).

Pirates: Jose Soriano: (elbow), Chad Kuhl: (right shoulder), Austin Davis: (elbow), Kyle Crick: (undisclosed), Blake Cederlind: (elbow), Steven Brault: (lat strain), Phillip Evans: (left hamstring), Colin Moran: (left groin), Ke'Bryan Hayes: (wrist), Jacob Stallings: (quad).

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