Sampson scheduled to start for Chicago against St. Louis

St. Louis Cardinals (85-69, second in the NL Central) vs. Chicago Cubs (67-87, fourth in the NL Central)

Chicago; Saturday, 2:20 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Jon Lester (7-6, 4.59 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 81 strikeouts) Cubs: Adrian Sampson (1-2, 2.84 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 17 strikeouts)

LINE: Cubs +144, Cardinals -165; over/under is even

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals head to face the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

The Cubs are 39-40 on their home turf. Chicago has a collective on-base percentage of .305, led by Willson Contreras with a mark of .333.

The Cardinals are 43-36 on the road. St. Louis has slugged .409 this season. Tyler O'Neill leads the team with a mark of .540.

The Cardinals won the last meeting 12-4. Dakota Hudson notched his first victory and Lars Nootbaar went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI for St. Louis. Zach Davies registered his 12th loss for Chicago.

TOP PERFORMERS: Ian Happ leads the Cubs with 59 RBI and is batting .222.

Nolan Arenado leads the Cardinals with 33 home runs and is batting .257.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cubs: 2-8, .256 batting average, 7.73 ERA, outscored by 26 runs

Cardinals: 10-0, .304 batting average, 3.45 ERA, outscored opponents by 41 runs

INJURIES: Cubs: Brad Wieck: (heart), Kohl Stewart: (elbow), Manuel Rodriguez: (shoulder), Jonathan Holder: (shoulder), Jason Heyward: (concussion), Michael Hermosillo: (forearm), Alfonso Rivas: (finger), Nick Madrigal: (hamstring), Jose Lobaton: (shoulder), P.J. Higgins: (forearm), Robinson Chirinos: (oblique).

Cardinals: Carlos Martinez: (thumb), Wade LeBlanc: (elbow), Jordan Hicks: (elbow), Ryan Helsley: (elbow), Junior Fernandez: (shoulder), Max Moroff: (shoulder).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.