Game Thread: Pirates look to put a dent in Cardinals’ playoff hopes

The Pirates close out their series with the Cardinals at 1:35 p.m. today. St. Louis sits a precarious five games back of the National League Central-leading Cubs, with the Brewers in there too, at 4 1/2 back.

This is the Pirates’ last game to play spoiler, as they close out the schedule with the Orioles, who have finally been eliminated from the AL Wild-Card race, and the Nationals, who have clinched the NL East title.

The Pirates will send out a Sunday lineup behind Jameson Taillon, which is fine.

The lineups:

Cardinals

1. Matt Carpenter, 1B
2. Tommy Pham, LF
3. Dexter Fowler, CF
4. Jedd Gyorko, 3B
5. Kolten Wong, 2B
6. Paul DeJong, SS
7. Stephen Piscotty, RF
8. Carson Kelly, C
9. John Gant, P

— — —

Pirates

1. Chris Bostick, 2B
2. Starling Marte, LF
3. Andrew McCutchen, CF
4. Jose Osuna, 1B
5. Sean Rodriguez, 3B
6. Jordan Luplow, RF
7. Max Moroff, SS
8. Jacob Stallings, C
9. Jameson Taillon, P