Cardinals at Reds
The race for National League Central supremacy remains the tightest race in baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals are making their bid for the top spot with wins in six of the last seven games. The Cardinals will try to stay hot and clinch at least a split of a four-game series when they visit the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday in the third of a four-game set.
St. Louis (64-56) leads the division with the Chicago Cubs (64-58) one game behind while the Milwaukee Brewers (63-59) lurk two games back and the Reds linger on the fringes, 7 1/2 games behind. The Cardinals dropped the series opener 2-1 on Thursday to see a five-game winning streak come to an end but broke out the bats to even the series on Friday, pounding out 18 hits and getting home runs from Dexter Fowler, Paul Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong and Kolten Wong in the 13-4 drubbing. The St. Louis staff allowed four or fewer runs in eight of the last nine games but could not hold back Cincinnati rookie Aristides Aquino, who now owns a major-league record 10 home runs in 16 career games after taking Adam Wainwright deep on Friday. Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas will try to slow Aquino on Saturday while the Reds counter with righty Anthony DeSclafani.
TV: 6:40 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), FS Ohio (Cincinnati)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Miles Mikolas (7-12, 4.13 ERA) vs. Reds RH Anthony DeSclafani (7-7, 4.51)
Mikolas had a string of five straight starts allowing three or fewer runs come to an end when he was knocked around for six runs - five earned - and seven hits over five innings against Pittsburgh on Sunday. The 30-year-old surrendered a pair of home runs in that start, one more than he yielded in his previous five starts combined. Mikolas has not been at his best against Cincinnati this season, going 0-2 with a 5.63 ERA in three starts.
DeSclafani struggled at Washington on Monday, serving up six runs on as many hits and two walks in four innings to suffer the loss. The 29-year-old failed to complete six innings in any of his last four turns and owns a 6.52 ERA in that span. DeSclafani's last quality start came on July 21 at home against St. Louis, when he scattered two runs - one earned - and four hits over six innings while striking out a season-high 11.
WALK-OFFS
1. Reds 3B Eugenio Suarez (left thumb) left Friday's game in the sixth inning and is day-to-day.
2. St. Louis rookie OF Tommy Edman went 3-for-5 on Friday and owns four multi-hit games in his last six starts.
3. Cincinnati 1B Joey Votto (back) sat out Friday and is day-to-day.