Burnett v Lynn

This afternoon's rubber match will pit AJ Burnett (5-8, 2.95) and Lance Lynn (13-6, 3.79). Burnett is 7-5 with a 3.67 ERA in 14 career starts against the Redbirds, and bumped Gerrit Cole out of this start so he could work against St. Louis. Lynn is 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA in nine outings against the Bucs.

The game starts at 1:45 and will be on the MLB Network, Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Pirate lineup: Starling Marte LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Russell Martin C, Garrett Jones 1B, Andrew Lambo RF, Clint Barmes SS and AJ Burnett P.

Clint Barmes and Andrew Lambo are today's back end of the lineup card.

Cardinal lineup: Matt Carpenter 2B, Jon Jay CF, Matt Holliday LF, Allen Craig RF, Yadier Molina C,

Matt Adams 1B, David Freese 3B, Daniel Descalso SS and Lance Lynn P.

Yadier Molina is back from the DL, so that's a big boost for the Cards.

• Even with the ups and downs, the Pirates have been in first place in the NL Central since July 30th.
• Neil Walker has a nine game hitting streak.
• Andrew McCutchen has three straight multi-hit games.
• Starling Marte leads all NL leadoff hitters with 126 hits, the most by a Pirate leadoff hitter since Jason Kendall had 155 in 2004.