Braves take on the Cardinals in series rubber match

Jul 2, 2026, 04:01 am

St. Louis Cardinals (44-39, third in the NL Central) vs. Atlanta Braves (50-34, first in the NL East)

Atlanta; Thursday, 7:15 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Dustin May (5-6, 4.30 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 77 strikeouts); Braves: Hurston Waldrep (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, three strikeouts)

LINE: Braves -116, Cardinals -106; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals meet on Thursday with the three-game series tied 1-1.

Atlanta is 25-15 at home and 50-34 overall. The Braves have the ninth-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .311.

St. Louis is 21-18 on the road and 44-39 overall. The Cardinals have gone 32-14 in games when they record eight or more hits.

The matchup Thursday is the third meeting between these teams this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Matt Olson leads the Braves with 20 home runs while slugging .523. Ozzie Albies is 10 for 37 with three home runs and 11 RBI over the past 10 games.

Alec Burleson has 20 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs for the Cardinals. Masyn Winn is 11 for 38 with two doubles, a home run and six RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Braves: 3-7, .188 batting average, 3.56 ERA, outscored by 11 runs

Cardinals: 4-6, .221 batting average, 4.60 ERA, outscored by 13 runs

INJURIES: Braves: Spencer Strider: 60-Day IL (elbow), Robert Suarez: 15-Day IL (elbow), Ronald Acuna Jr.: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Kyle Farmer: 10-Day IL (forearm), Sean Murphy: 60-Day IL (finger), Spencer Schwellenbach: 60-Day IL (elbow), AJ Smith-Shawver: 60-Day IL (elbow), Danny Young: 60-Day IL (elbow), Joe Jimenez: 60-Day IL (knee), Joey Wentz: 60-Day IL (knee)

Cardinals: Ramon Urias: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.