Lucchesi expected to start as Padres host the Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals (40-41, third in the NL Central) vs. San Diego Padres (42-40, third in the NL West)
San Diego; Sunday, 4 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (5-8, 4.33 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 65 strikeouts) Padres: Joey Lucchesi (6-4, 3.95 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 82 strikeouts)
LINE: Padres favored by 1 1/2 runs; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE:
The Padres are 23-20 in home games. San Diego’s lineup has 128 home runs this season, Franmil Reyes leads them with 24 homers.
The Cardinals are 16-23 in road games. The St. Louis pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 4.18. Dakota Hudson leads the team with a 3.40 earned run average. The Padres won the last meeting 12-2. Chris Paddack earned his fifth victory and Manny Machado went 2-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs for San Diego. Hudson took his fourth loss for St. Louis.
TOP PERFORMERS: Reyes leads the Padres with 24 home runs and has 41 RBIs. Machado is 17-for-44 with four doubles, six home runs and 15 RBIs over the last 10 games for San Diego.
Paul DeJong leads the Cardinals with 79 hits and is batting .261. Tommy Edman is 8-for-22 with a triple, two home runs and three RBIs over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
LAST 10 GAMES: Padres: 7-3, .278 batting average, 3.41 ERA, outscored opponents by 23 runs
Cardinals: 3-7, .218 batting average, 3.82 ERA, outscored by 20 runs
Padres Injuries: Adam Warren: 10-day IL (forearm), Garrett Richards: 60-day IL (elbow), Jacob Nix: 60-day IL (elbow), Aaron Loup: 60-day IL (elbow), Dinelson Lamet: 60-day IL (elbow), Brett Kennedy: 60-day IL (shoulder), Jose Castillo: 60-day IL (hip), Hunter Renfroe: day-to-day (illness), Travis Jankowski: 60-day IL (foot), Franchy Cordero: 60-day IL (elbow), Francisco Mejia: day-to-day (elbow).
Cardinals Injuries: Mike Mayers: 60-day IL (shoulder), Jordan Hicks: 10-day IL (right torn ucl), Ryan Helsley: 10-day IL (shoulder), Brett Cecil: 60-day IL (wrist/forearm), Marcell Ozuna: 10-day IL (hand), Jedd Gyorko: 10-day IL (back).
