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Cardinals, Yanks play rubber match at Busch

Following their third shutout victory in eight games, the St. Louis Cardinals shoot for a series victory over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night in the rubber match of a three-game series.

The Cardinals' first two victories by way of a shutout over this eight-game stretch came in contests started by Adam Wainwright before Lance Lynn got into the act on Tuesday.

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Lynn kept the Yankees in check for a 6-0 win, notching his first career complete game after scattering five hits and three walks. He threw 77 of his career-high 126 pitches for strikes and ended with an exclamation point by retiring Yangervis Solarte, Alfonso Soriano and Brian Roberts in order on 10 pitches in the ninth.

"I was able to mix my pitches well," Lynn said. "It was definitely one to remember. I enjoyed it and to do it against the Yankees is exciting."

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Matt Holliday and Allen Craig both hit solo homers to end lengthy droughts and the Cardinals put up four runs in the third inning, helped by two Yankees errors.

Craig, meanwhile, went deep in the fifth inning for the first time since May 9, while Holliday's seventh-inning blast was his first since April 28.

While the Cardinals improved to 10-3 in their last 13 games, the Yankees had a three-game winning streak halted even though New York manager Joe Girardi didn't think that Lynn did much out of the ordinary.

"Fastball, curveball mostly, movement on both sides of the plate," he said. "I thought we squared some balls up and had some chances, we just didn't do it."

David Phelps took the loss after giving up five runs -- three earned -- on eight hits and two walks in six innings, striking out five. The righty fell to 1-2 in five games since moving to the starting rotation this month.

New York, which was without Mark Teixeira for a second straight game due to soreness in his surgically-repaired wrist, will try to rebound tonight behind Hiroki Kuroda.

The 39-year-old righty is 1-0 over his last four starts and is coming off a no-decision against the Chicago White Sox on Friday. Kuroda was charged with four runs -- two earned -- on eight hits and two walks over 4 2/3 innings while also giving up his fifth homer in the past three outings.

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Kuroda sits 3-3 with a 4.55 earned run average this season and is 1-2 with a 3.19 ERA in five starts lifetime against the Cardinals, who counter with 23- year-old Shelby Miller.

Miller will try to avoid going into a slump after having a five-start and six- decision win streak snapped with a 5-3 loss to Cincinnati on Friday. The righty was unable to work out of trouble, yielding four runs in five hits and a walk in five innings.

It marked the most runs that Miller had allowed in a start since giving up vive in a setback to Pittsburgh on April 4 and he fell to 6-3 on the year with a 3.18 ERA.

Miller has never faced the Yankees.

St. Louis and New York are meeting for just their third all-time regular season series and first since the Cardinals won two of three games back in 2005 at Busch Stadium. The Yankees swept a three-game set in the Bronx back in 2003 and are 2-3 all-time in World Series play against the Cards.

[SportsNetwork.com]

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