Cardinals Look for Sixth Straight Head to Head Victory Against Reds

The St. Louis Cardinals continue to dominate the National League Central holding a six-game lead over the second place Pittsburgh Pirates. St. Louis opens a three-game series on Monday at home against NL Central rivals the Cincinnati Reds. Heading into this series, the Reds have lost 5 straight to the Cardinals.

The Reds have now officially given up on their season as they traded away their ace starting pitcher Johnny Cueto to the Kansas City Royals for three pitching prospects on Sunday.

The Reds are 19 games behind St. Louis. They will be entertaining other calls for possible trades from other teams battling for a postseason berth, ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.

Hours after the Cueto trade was announced, the Reds went out and gave up the most runs in any game over the past six years in a loss to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday 17-7.

Besides Cueto being on the trade block, the Reds are rumored to be shopping Mike Leake a starting pitcher, Aroldis Chapman a closer and Jay Bruce an outfielder. Each one of the three could bring the Reds a solid return due to their talent and potential to help a team in the playoff hunt.

Bruce had three hits in Sunday’s loss, including a three-run home run.

Cincinnati has now lost 6 of its past 9 games overall and has scored only 10 runs in its five straight losses to St. Louis after winning the first meeting of the season between the two back in April.

In a three-game series in mid April, the Reds were swept by the Cardinals and outscored 13-4. Cincinnati is 3-14 in its past 17 games played in St. Louis.

St. Louis has won 5 of its past 6 games overall but lost on Sunday to Atlanta 3-2, but the starting pitchers have an ERA of 2.38 over the past five games.

Lance Lynn will start on the mound for the Cardinals. Lynn is 7-5 with an ERA of 2.80. He defeated the Chicago White Sox 3-2 in his last start on Wednesday. The right-hander has had his problems with Cincinnati’s Bruce as the Reds’ outfielder has 14 hits in 28 at bats including 3 home runs, two triples and one double.

Starting for the Reds will be Raisel Iglesias. The Reds right-hander is 1-2 with an ERA of 5.45. He debuted in the majors versus St. Louis back on April 12, but did not play a part in the decision, with St. Louis winning in 11 innings 7-5.