Lester expected to start as Cardinals host the Royals

Updated Aug. 8, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Kansas City Royals (47-62, fourth in the AL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (55-55, third in the NL Central)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Kris Bubic (3-5, 4.57 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 68 strikeouts) Cardinals: Jon Lester (3-6, 5.38 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 55 strikeouts)

LINE: Cardinals -155, Royals +134; over/under is 9 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis and Kansas City will square off on Sunday.

The Cardinals are 32-24 on their home turf. St. Louis hitters have posted a team on-base percentage of .302 this season, led by Tyler O'Neill with a mark of .339.

The Royals have gone 19-37 away from home. Kansas City has a collective on-base percentage of .300, led by Nicky Lopez with a mark of .352.

The Cardinals won the last meeting 5-2. Luis Garcia recorded his first victory and Nolan Arenado went 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI for St. Louis. Brad Keller took his 11th loss for Kansas City.

TOP PERFORMERS: Arenado leads the Cardinals with 67 RBIs and is batting .262.

Salvador Perez leads the Royals with 68 RBIs and is batting .274.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 5-5, .255 batting average, 4.45 ERA, outscored by nine runs

Royals: 4-6, .198 batting average, 3.81 ERA, outscored by six runs

INJURIES: Cardinals: Daniel Ponce de Leon: (shoulder), Miles Mikolas: (forearm), Carlos Martinez: (thumb), Dakota Hudson: (elbow), Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Jack Flaherty: (oblique), Max Moroff: (shoulder).

Royals: Kyle Zimmer: (neck/trap), Daniel Tillo: (undisclosed), Brady Singer: (shoulder), Jesse Hahn: (shoulder), Ronald Bolanos: (flexor), Andrew Benintendi: (shoulder), Adalberto Mondesi: (oblique).

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