Cardinals @ Reds

Who will WIN this matchup?

St. Louis Cardinals (64-57)

@ Cincinnati Reds (58-64)

Starting Pitchers:

Flaherty (STL): 6-6; 3.52 ERA

Wood (CIN) 1-1; 5.59 ERA

Last 10 Games Played:

St. Louis Cardinals: 6-4

Cincinnati Reds: 4-6

Current odds:

St. Louis Cardinals: (-180)

Cincinnati Reds: (+160)

• The Cincinnati Reds are hanging around the fringes of the race in the National League Central due in large part to their star rookie. Aristides Aquino will try to continue his historic pace and lead the Reds to a key series win when they host the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of a four-game series on Sunday. Aquino continued his tear and became the fastest player in major-league history to reach 11 home runs (16 games) when he belted a three-run shot in the fifth inning off Miles Mikolas on Saturday to highlight a 6-1 Cincinnati victory. Aquino, who hit a two-run shot on Friday to become the fastest in history to double-digit homers, owns a .964 slugging percentage and helped the Reds (58-64) move within 6 1/2 games of the Cardinals for first place in the NL Central.

• St. Louis (64-57) moved back into a virtual tie with the Chicago Cubs (65-58) atop the Central while the Milwaukee Brewers, who visit the Cardinals for a three-game series beginning Monday, sit one game behind. St. Louis will put its best foot forward in Sunday’s finale with budding ace Jack Flaherty taking the mound opposite Cincinnati veteran left-hander Alex Wood.

• Flaherty is riding a streak of 23 consecutive scoreless innings and allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last seven turns. The 23-year-old surrendered a total of eight hits and issued four walks over 21 scoreless innings in his last three starts while notching 26 strikeouts. Flaherty has yet to allow a run in two starts against Cincinnati this season, yielding a total of 10 hits and striking out 11 across 11 1/3 total innings.

• Wood spent the first four months of the season on the injured list with a back ailment and owns one quality start in four outings since making his return. The University of Georgia product is having some trouble keeping the ball in the yard and surrendered six home runs among 25 hits in 19 1/3 innings over those four turns. Wood faced St. Louis once as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018 and was knocked around for three runs and seven hits in four frames.

• Reds 1B Joey Votto (back) sat out the last three games and remains day-to-day.

• St. Louis 3B Matt Carpenter homered on Saturday – his first blast since June 17.

• Cincinnati 3B Eugenio Suarez (sprained thumb) missed Saturday’s game and is questionable for Sunday.