Cardinals host Pirates, look to build on Flaherty's solid showing

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Pittsburgh Pirates (45-49, fourth in the NL Central) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (47-46, third in the NL Central)

St. Louis; Wednesday, 1:15 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Chris Archer (3-6, 5.42 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 98 strikeouts) Cardinals: Daniel Ponce de Leon (1-0, 1.99 ERA, .79 WHIP, 38 strikeouts)

LINE: Cardinals favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis heads into the matchup after a strong showing by Jack Flaherty. Flaherty went seven innings, surrendering one run on three hits with eight strikeouts against Pittsburgh.

The Cardinals are 16-18 against NL Central opponents. The St. Louis pitching staff owns a team ERA of 4.04, Dakota Hudson paces the staff with a mark of 3.48.

The Pirates are 19-22 against the rest of their division. Pittsburgh ranks fourth in the majors in hitting with a .269 batting average, Bryan Reynolds leads the club with an average of .343. The Pirates won the last meeting 3-1. Francisco Liriano earned his fourth victory and Kevin Newman went 1-for-4 with two RBIs for Pittsburgh. Carlos Martinez registered his first loss for St. Louis.

TOP PERFORMERS: Paul Goldschmidt leads the Cardinals with 17 home runs and is batting .250. Tyler O'Neill is 12-for-32 with two doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs over the last 10 games for St. Louis.

Josh Bell leads the Pirates with 84 RBIs and is batting .294. Starling Marte is 10-for-38 with a double, a triple, three home runs and 10 RBIs over the last 10 games for Pittsburgh.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 6-4, .252 batting average, 2.97 ERA, outscored opponents by 12 runs

Pirates: 4-6, .278 batting average, 6.10 ERA, outscored by 14 runs

Cardinals Injuries: Mike Mayers: 60-day IL (shoulder), Jordan Hicks: 60-day IL (elbow), Brett Cecil: 60-day IL (wrist/forearm), Marcell Ozuna: 10-day IL (hand), Jedd Gyorko: 10-day IL (back), Matt Carpenter: 10-day IL (right foot contusion), Yadier Molina: 10-day IL (thumb).

Pirates Injuries: Jameson Taillon: 60-day IL (elbow), Edgar Santana: 60-day IL (elbow), Chad Kuhl: 60-day IL (elbow), Keone Kela: 60-day IL (shoulder), Rookie Davis: 10-day IL (finger/forearm), Nick Burdi: 60-day IL (biceps), Steven Brault: 10-day IL (shoulder), Gregory Polanco: 10-day IL (shoulder), Corey Dickerson: day-to-day (groin), Lonnie Chisenhall: 60-day IL (finger), Erik Gonzalez: 60-day IL (collarbone), Francisco Cervelli: 10-day IL (concussion).