The St. Louis Cardinals are 9-4 in their last 13 games, putting them at 22-29 with a chance to make a run at the National League Central title, and manager Oli Marmol spoke about giving Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras a day off in the team's series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.

“They needed a day [off],” Oli Marmol said, via John Denton of MLB.com. “They've been going really hard. There's a reason we've gained ground and won some games of late and gone on a little run. It' because those guys have gone every day, haven't had a day off and have posted. They're deserving of this day game [off] in order to reset and be ready for Cleveland and Kansas City.”

Marmol then went into the strategy behind resting the three players on Thursday.

“They all wanted to make sure they were in there vs. the Dodgers,” Marmol said, via Denton. “We had a lefty [pitching for the Reds] in Game 1 and they're not gonna sit that day because [Graham] Ashcraft's splits are recerse. You could sit them [Tuesday], but you are forcing them to play in a [12:35] game.”

Against the Dodgers, the strategy worked, as the Cardinals took three out of four at home. Without Goldschmidt, Arenado and Contreras, the Cardinals are hoping to win the final game of a four-game series against the Reds to split the four-game series. The Reds have taken two of the first three games.

The Cardinals will travel to Cleveland to start a series with the Guardians on Friday.