First pitch: Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Pittsburgh -115, St. Louis +105, Total: 7

The top two teams from the NL Central last season, the Cardinals and Pirates, meet up for the first time this year when they begin a three-game series on Friday night at PNC Park.

Reigning National League champion St. Louis was able to win its first series of the 2014 season by taking 2-of-3 games in Cincinnati, with each contest being decided by just one run. After splitting a pair of 1-0 decisions, the bats came alive in Thursday's rubber match as the Redbirds offense pounded out 11 hits, including five for extra bases. Pittsburgh also won 2-of-3 games to open its season against the Cubs, with each of those contests also being decided by just one run. The Pirates gave their fans some exciting baseball with a consecutive walk-off wins in extra innings to start the 2014 campaign before falling 3-2 on Thursday night. Two talented 23-year-olds will get the call for this game as RHP Shelby Miller (15-9, 3.06 ERA in 2013) gets the start for St. Louis and RHP Gerrit Cole (10-7, 3.22 ERA in 2013) will take the mound for Pittsburgh. Even though the Cardinals have been the much better team over the previous two seasons, the Pirates have a slight 20-19 edge in this matchup over that time, and are even stronger when playing at home (11-7). Bettors should take notice that St. Louis is 85-46 (65%) facing a right-handed starter over the past two seasons, while Pittsburgh is an impressive 52-30 (63%) in the first half of the season since the start of 2013.

Shelby Miller is yet another player to come out of the Cardinals farm system and make an immediate impact with the team. In his first full season with the club in 2013, he was able to pitch 173.1 innings, striking out 169 batters (8.8 K/9) and winning 15 games in 31 starts. He did not look as great in 13.2 Spring Training innings though, pitching to a 5.93 ERA and allowing three homers, but he still struck out 13 batters. Miller has also pitched very poorly in this divisional matchup, going up against the Pirates four times, and coming away with a loss in each game. He’s compiled a 5.32 ERA (1.73 WHIP) over those starts and has allowed two home runs in each of the past three outings. Two of those long balls have come off the bat of C Russell Martin (3-for-7, 2 RBI) while both OF Andrew McCutchen (3-for-9) and OF Starling Marte (3-for-10, 2 XBH) have had success as well. Big-bopper 3B Pedro Alvarez has gone only 1-for-10 against Miller, but the one hit left the park. St. Louis’ bullpen pitched 7.2 innings in its first series, allowing four runs (4.70 ERA) and striking out seven batters. Closer Trevor Rosenthal (0.00 ERA, 2 saves) has pitched two perfect innings for his first two saves of the season while striking out three batters.

Gerrit Cole figures to be a fixture in the Pirates’ rotation for plenty of years to come and started 19 games in his rookie campaign after a midseason call-up last year. He has impeccable control for a young pitcher, giving up just 2.2 walks per nine innings while allowing only 0.54 HR/9 in his 117.1 IP last season. Although the Cardinals were the top team in the NL last season, Cole had no trouble when facing them over two playoff games, going 1-1 in two starts with a 2.45 ERA (0.64 WHIP) and 10 strikeouts in 11 innings. C Yadier Molina (2-for-6, 1 HR, 2 walks) did well against Cole in his limited at-bats while 2B Matt Carpenter (0-for-7) was completely fooled by the young righty. Pittsburgh has already had to use its bullpen heavily, throwing 17 innings over the first three games while allowing just three runs (1.59 ERA). Veteran Jason Grilli saved 33-of-35 games last season (94.3%), but he has already blown his one save opportunity this season. Grilli gave up three hits and a run with a one-run lead on Wednesday night, a game which was not settled until the 16th inning.