Cardinals aim to spark extended run vs. Cubs

The July 31 trade deadline will be looming large when the visiting St. Louis Cardinals begin a three-game series against the rival Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Chicago leads the National League Central by four games over the second-place Milwaukee Brewers, while St. Louis is 5 1/2 games out in the division and sits in a three-way tie for the third NL wild-card spot.

The Cubs completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians with a 1-0 win on Thursday. Matt Shaw delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to help Chicago prevail for the sixth time in the past eight games.

"It's just so much fun," Shaw said in a postgame interview. "We have a great team, and this is awesome."

St. Louis had an off day on Thursday after being shut out in three consecutive games while being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

"Obviously the series is frustrating, but it's just one little blip on the radar of 162 (games)," St. Louis second baseman Brendan Donovan said. "So, is it frustrating? Absolutely. But they just beat us. They're playing good ball. We were playing good ball and they shut us down, so we're on to Chicago."

The Friday series opener features a pair of right-handers as the Cardinals' Miles Mikolas (4-5, 4.76 ERA) faces Chicago's Colin Rea (5-3, 4.37).

Mikolas, 36, allowed six runs in four innings during a no-decision against the Guardians on Saturday.

Mikolas, who owns a 6.90 ERA with 43 hits allowed across 30 innings over his past six starts, emphasized the importance of the series with the trade deadline fast approaching.

"To know if this series goes well, maybe you're in the situation where you're looking to make that good hard push," he said. "And if things don't go well, you could be one of those teams looking to bring those young guys up. Can definitely go either way. ... Makes each game feel a little more important."

Nico Hoerner is 13-for-33 (.394) and Ian Happ is 13-for-40 (.325) against Mikolas, who is 6-6 with a 3.17 ERA in 23 career games (21 starts) vs. the Cubs.

Rea, 35, allowed two runs over five innings in a 12-3 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday. He bounced back after giving up four homers, 11 hits and seven runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners during his previous start.

Nolan Arenado is 1-for-10 against Rea, who is 1-3 with a 4.37 ERA in nine career games (seven starts) against St. Louis.

Chicago will have two National League starters in the All-Star Game at Atlanta on July 15. Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong received the honor in his second full season with Chicago. He is batting .265 with 21 homers, 64 RBIs and 26 stolen bases.

"Of course he's exceeded expectations," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "He's having a wonderful season, and we're all happy for him that he got this recognition. It's happened really fast."

Crow-Armstrong will be joined at the All-Star Game by right fielder Kyle Tucker, who has been named a starter for the first time in his career. The four-time All-Star is batting .287 with 17 homers, 52 RBIs and 21 stolen bases during his first season with the Cubs.

--Field Level Media