First pitch: Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: St. Louis -145, Cincinnati +125, Total: 6.5

National League Central foes, the Cardinals and Reds, finish off their three-game weekend set on Sunday night.

St. Louis is finally starting to look like the team it has been for nearly a decade now with seven wins in its past eight games; putting the club just 1.5 games behind the Brewers for the division lead heading into the weekend. The Cardinals' pitching has been the main reason for the win surge, as they have given up an average of 1.9 runs over their past seven victories. St. Louis hosted the Diamondbacks earlier in this week and took a sweep in the series, outscoring them 12-4 over the three games. Matt Adams (.314 BA) has looked tremendous of late and is 9-for-21 (.429) with four doubles, a triple, a home run and 4 RBI over his past six games. Cincinnati has been inconsistent all season, but the club is coming off a solid series win over the Nationals this week. The Reds were able to get a 2-1 series win on Wednesday when they shut down the potent Nationals’ offense and pulled out a 2-1 victory in the rubber match. Starter Alfredo Simon improved his record to 6-2 in the win while SS Zack Cozart (.227 BA) went 6-for-14 in the series with four runs and a stolen base. One of the best pitchers in the game, RHP Adam Wainwright (7-2, 1.85 ERA), will take the mound for the Cardinals on Sunday night as he goes up against Cincinnati RHP Mike Leake (2-3, 2.91 ERA). St. Louis would much rather be playing this game at home since its road record through Thursday is just 12-14 while the Reds have gone just 11-10 in Great American Ball Park coming into this series. The Cards have gotten the better of this matchup since the start of 2012, going 23-17 overall and splitting 22 games (11-11) when facing off in Cincinnati. The Reds scratched OF Ryan Ludwick from Wednesday’s game due to his knee swelling, but he is expected to be back to 100 percent for this series, while OF Jay Bruce is also expected to begin playing very soon for the Reds.

Adam Wainwright has been the definition of consistency, posting a sub-2.95 ERA in three of the past five years, and has never been above a 4.00 ERA in a single season. He has continued his success this year and has used his impeccable control (1.9 BB/9) and 8.0 K/9 to do so. He’s also benefited from some luck, as opponents have a mere .234 BABIP, a number that will inevitably go up. Wainwright has not allowed a run in five of his 10 starts this year and already has two shutouts to his name. He earned one of those in his last outing on Tuesday, completing the game against the Diamondbacks after allowing just a single hit and striking out nine with zero walks in a 115-pitch masterpiece. He’s faced the Reds 21 times (16 starts) in his career, but has not done too well with a 6-9 record, 4.75 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, while allowing 17 home runs in just 100.1 innings. 2B Brandon Phillips has been part of the problem for Wainwright, as he is 14-for-46 (.304) in the matchup with a homer and 3 RBI. It will be important to get OFs Ryan Ludwick and Jay Bruce back as well, since they have combined to go 16-for-48 (.333) with four doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI against the righty. On the other hand, speedy OF Billy Hamilton was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts the first time these two teams met. Coming into this series, the Cardinals’ bullpen is 4-8 with a 3.97 ERA and 1.21 WHIP while saving 67% (14-of-21) of their games. Closer Trevor Rosenthal (4.56 ERA, 14 saves) is 14-for-16 in save chances and has already struck out 29 batters in 23.2 frames, but has struggled with his control too, giving away 14 free passes so far this year.

Mike Leake is one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball and has pitched at least six innings in every one of his starts while allowing two or fewer runs in each of his past four outings. He is not a strikeout pitcher (5.3 K/9), but has great control (1.7 BB/9) and gets ground balls 56% of the time with balls in play. Unfortunately his offense has not backed him at all and he has not earned a win since April 15, with his past three starts ending in a no-decision. Most recently, he faced the Nationals on Monday, going 6.2 innings and giving up just one run on seven hits and one walk with and four strikeouts. St. Louis has given Leake plenty of trouble in the past though, and he is just 3-4 with a 5.06 ERA and 1.41 WHIP against them over 10 games (9 starts). He was amazing when he took them on this season, twirling eight scoreless innings while allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out three in his first victory of the season. OF Matt Holliday has really been a thorn in Leake’s side when facing each other, as he has gone 11-for-26 (.423) in the matchup with three doubles, one home run and 6 RBI. Meanwhile, infielders Mark Ellis (0-for-5), Kolten Wong (1-for-4), Jhonny Peralta (0-for-2) and Daniel Descalso (1-for-9) have been horrible against him. Coming into this series, the Reds have boasted one of the worst bullpens in the majors with a 4-9 record, 5.00 ERA and 1.56 WHIP, while converting only 9-of-16 save opportunities. The return of closer Aroldis Chapman (3.00 ERA, 3 saves) should certainly give a boost to the relief corps of this team, and he is 3-for-4 in his save chances while striking out 11 batters in his first six innings on the mound.