The set-up: The St. Louis Cardinals elected to 'stay pat' at the non-waiver trade deadline and all of a sudden, have surged into contention in the NL Central. The Cardinals go for a four-game sweep of their I-70 Series with the Royals Thursday night, while looking to make it six wins in a row, overall. The Cardinals outscored the Royals 21-6 in two wins at Kansas City to open the series, then won 8-5 last night back in St. Louis. The Cards are now 58-56 (in a virtual tie with the 59-57 Brewers) and have inched within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Cubs. Meanwhile, the Royals have dropped five of their last six to fall four games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central and one back of Seattle for the second wild-card spot

The pitching matchup: Jason Hammel (5-9 & 4.73 ERA) takes the mound for KC and Lance Lynn (10-6 & 3.12 ERA) for StL. Hammel has recorded quality starts in each of his last two outings and four of his last six but it's been a looong year for him, as the Royals are 7-15 in his 2017 starts (minus-$658). Hammel is 4-6 with a 5.69 ERA in 13 career starts against the Cardinals (teams are 5-8). Lynn enters on a roll, having gone 4-0 with a 1.21 ERA over his last six starts and has allowed more than one run only once during that stretch (Cards are 5-1). Lynn has made just three career starts against the Royals, without much success (6.38 ERA).

The pick: The Cards are looking for a season-high sixth straight win and come in swinging the bats very well, averaging 9.2 RPG in their five consecutive wins. No reason to expect Hammel to slow them down here and while Lynn is "on a roll," his 6.38 career ERA against the Royals make me say Over in this one (8* play).