The set-up: It's a special game between the Cards and Pirates on Sunday night, as the teams meet at Historic Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pa. as part of the Little League Classic. The Pirates will be the host team and yesterday afternoon snapped a six-game slide with a 6-4 victory, The Cardinals took the first two of this four-game series by scoring 11 runs each on Thursday and Friday but were held in check yesterday and with the loss, fell 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central (are also a half-game back of the second-place Brewers).

The pitching matchup: Mike Leake (7-11 & 3.88 ERA) goes for St. Louis and Ivan Nova (10-10 & 3.77 ERA). Not much has gone right for Leake lately, as he's win-less in his last four outings, allowing 19 runs (18 earned) over 20 1/3 innings (7.97 ERA) after getting pounded for eight runs at Boston on Tuesday in a 10-4 loss. He enters this contest having completed more than five innings just twice in his last eight starts, in stark contrast to the pitcher who accomplishing that feat in 15 of his first 16 outings of 2017. Leake is 10-5 with a 3.33 ERA in 31 career starts against Pittsburgh but his teams are just 14-17. Nova lost for the fourth time during a five-game win-less streak (he's 0-4 and the team 1-4) this past Tuesday at Milwaukee (Brewers won 3-1). However, he pitched well, permitting two runs (just one earned) over six innings. He's faced the Cards just once in his career, throwing a 78-pitch complete game but still took the loss in the Cardinals' 2-1 win April 17 at Busch Stadium.

The pick: Leake's 3.33 career ERA in 31 starts) is pretty good plus Nova has been a mainstay of the Pittsburgh rotation in 2017. Make the Under an 8* play.