With both sides attempting to gain ground in the National League wild-card race, the St. Louis Cardinals host the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night.

The Cardinals have dropped five of seven games since the All-Star break and sit 1 1/2 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final NL wild-card spot. St. Louis also is a half-game behind the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are currently the first NL team out of the playoff picture.

Trying to stay afloat in the playoff chase, the Reds enter their third consecutive road set riding a pair of series victories. Cincinnati, which is six games behind the Diamondbacks, took two of three from both the Colorado Rockies and the Seattle Mariners.

Since St. Louis’ Dustin May hurled a one-hit shutout against the San Diego Padres on June 15, little has gone right for the right-hander. In five starts since the gem, May (5-7, 4.78 ERA) is 0-1 with a 9.92 ERA.

May threw five innings for the first time in more than a month on Saturday, but he surrendered five runs on eight hits while striking out six and walking four in a 5-3 loss at Arizona.

Despite May’s rough patch, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol has confidence the 28-year-old can find his rhythm again.

“He’s competed well. He went through a stretch there where he gave us some really good outings,” Marmol said. “After the complete game, there have been some ups and downs, but he’s good enough to get out of this.”

Making the 91st appearance (77th start) of his major league career, May will face Cincinnati for the first time.

Among the Reds getting their first look at May will be All-Star first baseman Sal Stewart. The 22-year-old ranks fourth in the majors with 74 RBIs after knocking in nine runs across the club’s first two series since the midseason break.

“I think there are guys that relish those opportunities,” Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said of Stewart’s success with runners on base. “He’s so strong and he’s got great hitter’s hands. The ball just jumps off his bat.”

Despite the RBI surge, Stewart is batting just .130 (3-for-23) since the break.

On the mound, Rhett Lowder (3-7, 5.75 ERA) will be chasing a bounce-back effort for Cincinnati.

After appearing as a starter for his first 13 outings of the year, Lowder made three appearances out of the bullpen before re-emerging in the rotation after the All-Star break. Last time out, the 24-year-old right-hander lasted just 2 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs on 11 hits in a 10-3 loss to the Rockies on Saturday in Denver. He struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.

“(Colorado) was just being aggressive and I was probably leaving too many thick pitches for them. Balls were just finding holes,” Lowder said of that outing. “It was very frustrating.”

Lowder has thrown eight scoreless innings across a pair of starts against the Cardinals during his career. He faced St. Louis on June 7, allowing just one hit but walking five across three scoreless innings in a no-decision. The Reds lost 5-3.

–Field Level Media

A blockbuster nonconference game between national champion Michigan and Duke, scheduled for Dec. 21, has been canceled, multiple outlets reported Friday.

The game was set to be played at Madison Square Garden and streamed on Prime Video as part of a three-game agreement with the Blue Devils. Instead, Duke will meet Texas Tech in New York, with the game remaining on Prime.

The Michigan-Duke matchup had been a question mark for about three months, with the Big Ten — backed by Fox Sports — contending it owned the broadcast rights, in part based on the game location. ESPN and the Atlantic Coast Conference already had given approval for the transfer to Prime Video, which is taking its first steps into the live streaming of college sports with the Duke games.

An effort to move the game to the Miami Marlins’ stadium — chosen, in part, because the venue is outside of a geographic area that the Big Ten could call neutral territory — did not pan out, forcing the cancellation.

The cancellation and rescheduling had not been announced as of Friday morning by Duke, Michigan or Texas Tech.

Amazon’s first foray into broadcasting live college sports also will feature the Blue Devils’ games against UConn on Nov. 25 in Las Vegas and Gonzaga on Feb. 20 in Detroit.

–Field Level Media

Carolina Panthers linebacker Nic Scourton’s season is over before it began.

The Panthers placed Scourton on injured reserve on Friday, one day after he injured his right knee on a wet field during the team’s first practice of training camp.

Multiple media outlets reported Scourton sustained a torn ACL. The Panthers did not confirm as much, however the move to season-ending injured reserve indicates the injury is severe.

Scourton, who is seeking a second opinion, appeared to know the severity of the injury immediately on Thursday in an emotional scene on the field.

Scourton, 21, was in tears and shielded his face from cameras as the cart pulled away from the field. Before the cart departed, the entire team and head coach Dave Canales had a moment with him as practice was halted for the day.

In just his second season, Scourton was penciled in to start on the opposite side of Jaelan Phillips, acquired as a free agent in the offseason. As a rookie, Scourton appeared in 17 games (eight starts) and tallied 47 tackles (seven for loss), a team high-tying five sacks and a forced fumble.

Veteran Patrick Jones II and Princely Umanmielen, in his second season, could see game time in his absence.

Also on Friday, the Panthers signed 2026 UFL Defensive Player of the Year Cam Gill and offensive tackle Derrell Bailey and waived guard Joshua Gray.

Gill, 28, recorded 10 sacks in the regular season for Louisville this spring. He also won Super Bowl LV with Tampa Bay and notched 51 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks in 50 career games with the Buccaneers (2020-21, 2023) and Panthers (2024).

Bailey went undrafted out of Georgia State this season.

–Field Level Media