Cardinals go for series sweep of Nationals

St. Louis Cardinals (20-10, first in the NL Central) vs. Washington Nationals (12-17, fourth in the NL East)

Washington; Thursday, 4 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Dakota Hudson (2-1, 5.63 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, 19 strikeouts) Nationals: Stephen Strasburg (2-1, 3.82 ERA, .98 WHIP, 48 strikeouts)

LINE: Nationals favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis will sweep the series over Washington with a win.

The Nationals are 6-11 in home games. Washington has slugged .432 this season. Adrian Sanchez leads the team with a 1.000 slugging percentage.

The Cardinals are 8-6 on the road. St. Louis leads the league in hitting with a .269 batting average, Jose Martinez leads the club with an average of .375. The Cardinals won the last meeting 5-1. Miles Mikolas earned his third victory and Marcell Ozuna went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI for St. Louis. Max Scherzer registered his fourth loss for Washington.

TOP PERFORMERS: Juan Soto leads the Nationals with 22 RBIs and is batting .248. Victor Robles has 10 hits and is batting .227 over the last 10 games for Washington.

Ozuna leads the Cardinals with 10 home runs and is batting .279. Paul DeJong is 14-for-40 with five doubles, a home run and two RBIs over the last 10 games for St. Louis.

LAST 10 GAMES: Nationals: 3-7, .233 batting average, 4.65 ERA, outscored by 11 runs

Cardinals: 9-1, .293 batting average, 3.70 ERA, outscored opponents by 17 runs

Nationals Injuries: Austen Williams: 10-day IL (shoulder), Trevor Rosenthal: 10-day IL (infection), Koda Glover: 60-day IL (forearm), Juan Soto: day-to-day (back), Ryan Zimmerman: 10-day IL (foot), Trea Turner: 10-day IL (finger), Anthony Rendon: 10-day IL (elbow).

Cardinals Injuries: Mike Mayers: 10-day IL (shoulder), Carlos Martinez: 10-day IL (shoulder), Luke Gregerson: 10-day IL (shoulder), Brett Cecil: 60-day IL (wrist/forearm), Justin Williams: 10-day IL (hand), Dexter Fowler: day-to-day (illness).