DeJong brings hot bat into matchup with Braves

St. Louis Cardinals (84-68, third in NL Central) vs. Atlanta Braves (83-68, first in NL East)

Atlanta; Wednesday, 12:10 p.m. Eastern

PROBABLE PITCHERS: Cardinals: Jack Flaherty (8-7, 2.86 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 168 strikeouts) Braves: Touki Toussaint (1-1, 4.67 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 15 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis has Paul DeJong to thank for a chunk of the team’s offensive production over the last week. He’s batting .320 with eight hits and two home runs in that span. The Braves come into the contest with a five and a half-game lead over the Phillies in the NL East. The Atlanta offence has compiled a .259 batting average as a team this season, Freddie Freeman leads the team with a mark of .307. The Cardinals have gone 11-14 in games started by Flaherty. St. Louis is averaging 4.5 RBIs per game this season. Marcell Ozuna leads the team with 84 RBIs. In Tuesday’s game, the Cardinals defeated the Braves 8-1. Austin Gomber got the win for St. Louis, his sixth on the season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Matt Carpenter is batting .263 for the Cardinals this season, and his .537 slugging percentage is seventh in the National League. Yadier Molina has driven in 11 runs on eight hits over his past 10 games for St. Louis. Ozzie Albies has 22 home runs and 68 RBIs on the season for the Braves. Ronald Acuna has two home runs and six RBIs while slugging .707 over his past 10 games for Atlanta.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 6-4, .245 batting average, 4.70 ERA, outscored opponents by eight runs. Braves: 6-4, .252 batting average, 4.55 ERA, outscored by three runs.

BRAVES INJURIES: The Atlanta Braves placed LHP Luiz Gohara on the 60-day disabled list with left shoulder soreness on Friday.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.