(Photo credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images)

Two teams desperately seeking consistency meet when the Cincinnati Reds visit the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.

The teams played two weeks ago in a rain-soaked series in Cincinnati, where both the Friday and Sunday games were rained out, forcing the series to be shortened to a two-game set played in a day-night doubleheader on May 23. The Cardinals captured the first game while the Reds rallied to take the nightcap.

The Reds have been ravaged by injuries to star players and their bullpen in the last two weeks. Set-up man Graham Ashcraft was filling the role of injured closer Emilio Pagan before Ashcraft landed on the 60-day injured list last Friday with a sprain of his UCL in his right forearm. Tony Santillan took his place as closer and has struggled badly in his ninth-inning situations, including allowing three runs in Wednesday's 5-2 loss to Kansas City.

'We're at a point where we need some stability so much, and he's the guy that -- so, we're gonna have to figure that out,' Reds manager Terry Francona said of Santillan. 'Do we pick our spots a little bit? I mean, we tried to do that before, but with everybody going down, that's been a little bit more difficult.'

Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz strained his right hamstring running to first base on Sunday against Atlanta and will be out two to four weeks.

The Reds dropped two of three at home to sub-.500 Kansas City and have lost 19 of 30 since opening the season 20-11.

St. Louis, losers of seven of 10, just dropped two of three to Texas at home to finish a homestand 3-3.

After striking out seven straight times to open the series against the Rangers, outfielder Jordan Walker rebounded nicely Wednesday in a 5-3 St. Louis win.

Walker led the Cardinals' offense by going 3-for-4 with three runs. He scored the game's opening run in the second inning and the go-ahead run in the fourth. In the bottom of the sixth, Walker hit a single and proceeded to steal second for his team-leading eighth stolen base of the season, before the next batter brought him home.

'The confidence for him to be able to take that bag is something we didn't see in the past,' Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. 'We're just seeing him show up in different ways now. Defensively, he looks really good. Offensively, we've talked about it quite a bit. But on the bases, as well. He's looking for opportunities to be able to impact the game on the bases. That was a big one, for sure.'

The series opener features a battle of right-handed pitchers trying to stabilize their respective seasons.

The Reds send Brady Singer (2-5, 6.18 ERA) to the mound. The Reds lost all five of Singer's starts in May. He's gone 0-4 with a 7.77 ERA in those starts.

The Cardinals counter with Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.25 ERA), who has won his last three decisions after an up-and-down start.

Leahy is quite familiar with this Reds offense, having faced them on May 23. In that previous outing, the Reds tagged him for five runs and two home runs and he received a no-decision as Cincinnati rallied late for a 7-6 win in 11 innings.

That was his first start against the Reds in nine career appearances; Leahy has a 7.20 ERA against them without a decision. Singer is 2-3 with a 3.04 ERA in five starts vs. St. Louis.

Cincinnati has struggled against division opponents this year, carrying an underwhelming 2-10 record against the NL Central.

--Field Level Media