Premium pitching matchups punctuate Reds road trip to St. Louis

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Graham Ashcraft.
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Graham Ashcraft. | Dylan Buell/GettyImages
1 of 3

Well, the Cincinnati Reds (20-37) eight-game homestand against two of the not-so-good teams in the National League didn't quite go as planned. The Reds dropped 3-of-4 to the Washington Nationals and split a four-game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

To add insult to injury, or injury to insult, the Reds will now be without Tyler Stephenson for the next four-to-six weeks after the catcher left yesterday's contest with a broken thumb. Albert Almora Jr. left the game with a shoulder injury, and Nick Senzel has been sidelined for the past two games with a back strain.

Just when it looked as though the Reds were getting healthy, Cincinnati seems destined to make a few transactions this afternoon prior to the first of three games against the St. Louis Cardinals (32-26). This will be Cincinnati's first visit to Busch Stadium this year and their second-overall meeting with their division rivals this season.

Can the Reds' rookie pitchers silence the Cardinals' bats?

The pitching matchups in this series look to be superb; more on that in moment. The Cardinals enter Friday's game against the Reds trailing the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers by just 0.5 game in the standings. Cincinnati, on the other hand, is 12 games back of the Crew.

Believe it or not, every team in the National League Central Division is on a losing streak. The Reds have lost back-to-back games, St. Louis has dropped three straight, and the Brewers have lost six in a row.

Perhaps, if Cincinnati had handled their business this past week at home, the Redlegs would have actually gained some ground in the division. As it stands, every team in the NL Central is .500 or worse in their last 10 games.

The Cards are returning home after an eight-game road trip. St. Louis is 16-11 at home and will be looking to gain ground on the struggling Brewers. Two of Oliver Marmol's starters are on the IL at the moment, but the Reds will still face two of St. Louis' most-formidable starters during the three-game set.

Schedule