St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds play in game 4 of series

St. Louis Cardinals (14-17, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Cincinnati Reds (16-15, second in the NL Central)

Cincinnati; Thursday, 12:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore (2-2, 3.19 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 28 strikeouts); Reds: Andrew Abbott (2-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 20 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals bring a 2-1 lead into the next game of the series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincinnati has a 7-8 record in home games and a 16-15 record overall. The Reds are 12-5 in games when they record eight or more hits.

St. Louis has a 4-12 record on the road and a 14-17 record overall. The Cardinals have the fifth-ranked team slugging percentage in the NL at .405.

The teams square off Thursday for the fourth time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: TJ Friedl has six doubles, a triple, a home run and 12 RBI while hitting .275 for the Reds. Noelvi Marte is 16-for-42 with four doubles, a triple and three home runs over the past 10 games.

Nolan Arenado has nine doubles and three home runs for the Cardinals. Willson Contreras is 14-for-38 with a double and two home runs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Reds: 6-4, .290 batting average, 4.09 ERA, outscored opponents by 19 runs

Cardinals: 5-5, .253 batting average, 4.08 ERA, outscored opponents by seven runs

INJURIES: Reds: Jeimer Candelario: 10-Day IL (back), Ian Gibaut: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Carson Spiers: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Christian Encarnacion-Strand: 10-Day IL (back), Samuel Moll: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Brandon Williamson: 60-Day IL (elbow), Tyler Stephenson: 10-Day IL (oblique), Rhett Lowder: 15-Day IL (forearm), Julian Aguiar: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Cardinals: Ivan Herrera: 10-Day IL (foot), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat)

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