The Great American Ball Park will play host to a Monday night MLB clash between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals (66-63) have split their previous ten games and trail the Reds by 3.5 games for the final NL Wild Card spot. On Sunday, St. Louis 2B Tommy Edman homered and scored a pair of runs during a 4-3 road loss against lowly Pittsburgh.
Thirty-seven year old lefty Jon Lester (4-6 5.27 ERA) will take the mound for the Cardinals in this matchup. St. Louis has won Lester’s last three starts and he has allowed six runs over his last 15 innings of work.
The Cincinnati Reds are seven games above .500 at home and trail Milwaukee by 8.5 games for the NL Central Division lead. On Sunday, Cincinnati managed just two hits and struck out 11 times during a 2-1 road loss against Miami. SP Tyler Mahle (10-5) gave up two runs in seven innings and took the loss for the Reds, who fell to 71-61 on the year.
The Reds will counter with twenty-eight year old righty Luis Castillo (7-13 4.29 ERA) in the series opener. Last time out, Castillo gave up two runs in six plus innings during a 4-1 road loss against Milwaukee.
