Adam Wainwright will try to pitch the St. Louis Cardinals back into the win column when they open a three-game series versus the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday at Busch Stadium.
Wainwright did not figure into the decision of last Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs and pitched well, allowing two runs in six innings. He is 5-1 in his past six decisions and 6-2 with a 2.11 earned run average in nine starts.
The right-hander has made 11 appearances (8 starts) in his career against the Diamondbacks and is 5-4 with a 2.77 ERA in that time. Wainwright has a 2-0 mark in three home starts this season.
St. Louis is counting on Wainwright to pitch the club back on track and failed to pull off a sweep of the Atlanta Braves in Sunday's 6-5 loss. The Braves scored twice in the top of the ninth on a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch, and shut the Cardinals down in the bottom half.
"It would have been a big win, no question," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. "It's a tough one to lose."
Trevor Rosenthal was responsible for both runs and starter Jaime Garcia did not factor in the outcome. Garcia was touched for four runs in seven innings.
Kolten Wong drove in three runs for the Cardinals, who had won four in a row and five of six games. Matt Carpenter, Yadier Molina and Matt Adams had two hits apiece in the loss.
Meanwhile, Arizona will start a six-game road trip against the Cardinals and New York Mets, and took two of three meetings with the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend.
The D'backs took Sunday's rubber match by a 5-3 score, as Eric Chavez and Cody Ross both homered and both Chris Owings and A.J. Pollock added three hits.
Arizona was coming off Saturday's 18-7 rout of the Dodgers.
"The thing about last night's game is if you don't play well today, it doesn't really mean anything," said Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson.
Josh Collmenter gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings and held on for the win, while Addison Reed worked around a hit and struck out two in the ninth for his 12th save of the season.
Arizona has won two in a row after losing three of four games and will send veteran pitcher Bronson Arroyo to the mound Tuesday. Arroyo has won three straight starts and went the distance in last Tuesday's 3-1 win over Washington, allowing one run with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Arroyo, a right-hander, has a 4-2 record this season in eight starts to go along with a 4.15 earned run average. He has plenty of experience against the Cardinals in his career as evidenced by his 38 meetings (36 starts). Arroyo is 8-16 with a 4.64 ERA in that time and spent the last eight years with Cincinnati, a member of the NL Central and rival to the Cardinals.
The D'backs won four of seven games against St. Louis last season.
[SportsNetwork.com]
