Monday night will feature two of the NL Central's best as the Cincinnati Reds host the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates for a division showdown at 7:10 p.m. ET.
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Via ESPN:
Cincinnati (42-28) and Pittsburgh (41-28) trail major league-best St. Louis (44-25) in a division that could end up providing the NL with half of its postseason qualifiers by season's end.
The defending Central champion Reds have won five of seven after beating Milwaukee 5-1 on Sunday. Jay Bruce, who is hitting .407 over his last six, homered for the second time in three days.
Bruce, though, is just 5 for 48 (.104) with 18 strikeouts in his las 12 games versus the Pirates.
Shin-Soo Choo has hit safely in his last five, but manager Dusty Baker gave him Sunday off. He'll likely be back in the lineup versus the Pirates.
"I just told him to stay in and rest some, come in late," Baker said. "I don't think he knows how to."
Mike Leake (6-3, 2.76 ERA) has been playing at a high level as well, going 4-1 with a 1.13 ERA over his last six starts. He had another solid outing Wednesday, giving up one run and three hits in eight innings of a 2-1 win over the Chicago Cubs.
The right-hander has given up five earned runs in 40 innings during his hot stretch and struck out five over six innings to beat Pittsburgh 2-0 on June 1. Leake, though, also was roughed up by the Pirates on April 12, giving up five runs and 10 hits in six innings of Cincinnati's 6-5 loss.
Pittsburgh has won four of the six versus the Reds this season and has six victories in its last nine games overall after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 on Sunday.
