St Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates - Game 87 open thread - July 10, 2015

The first-place St. Louis Cardinals (56-30) pushed their lead in the National League Central division standings to 5.5 games with their victory over the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates (50-37) in the series opener at PNC Park on Thursday night. A night after Carlos Martinez made a strong closing argument in the All-Star Game final vote with a dominant pitching performance, we get an elite starting-pitcher matchup in Game 2. De factor St. Louis ace Lance Lynn will face off against Gerrit Cole.