St. Louis at Houston

It's the end of a nine-game trek for St. Louis, looking road-weary losing four of the last five. Miles Mikola (5.54 ERA) is no stopper with teams hitting .281 off him. The offense is 28th in runs scored, 19th in on-base percentage, 23rd in steals, and 21st in slugging. The Cardinals are 45-56 versus losing teams and 15-34 after hitting .225 or worse over a five-game stretch. Houston plays its sixth consecutive home contest taking the first two of this series, 7-4 and 8-5. The offense is 10th in runs scored and sixth in on-base percentage. Batters are hitting .178 off starter Ronel Blanco (2.44 ERA). With the Astros 105-45 at home against an NL starting pitcher with an ERA of 5.40 or worse, back home field. Play Houston.