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Padres-Cardinals Preview

Jul 4, 2015 - 5:21 AM Despite a season-high losing streak, the St. Louis Cardinals still sit atop the MLB standings largely thanks to an imposing starting staff.

They've rarely had any trouble winning when Carlos Martinez takes the mound, which he'll do Saturday against a San Diego Padres team looking to capture its first four-game series in St. Louis in a decade.

St. Louis (51-28) dropped its first two against San Diego (39-43) and has now lost four in a row for the first time since August. The Cardinals managed only four hits in Friday's 2-1 defeat and are in danger of their first five-game losing streak since a seven-game slide July 26-31, 2013.

Martinez (9-3, 2.80 ERA), who has proven himself capable of turning the tides, owns the best ERA (1.35) among qualifying NL starters since May 20 after holding the Chicago Cubs to a run and two hits over six innings Sunday in a 4-1 win. The right-hander has rattled off eight straight quality starts as the Cardinals have improved to 13-3 when he takes the mound.

"He's just looking untouchable," first baseman Xavier Scruggs told MLB's official website. "He always had the fastball in the minors when I was playing with him, but now he has a whole arsenal that is just disgusting. It's nasty."

Starting pitching, however, has hardly been St. Louis' concern, as the rotation has notched 10 consecutive quality starts and owns a 1.94 ERA in that span. The Cardinals supported the staff with 27 runs through six wins to begin that stretch, but have given their starters only six total runs in four games since - a stretch in which they're 1 for 34 with runners in scoring position.

Peter Bourjos, Yadier Molina, Kolten Wong, Randal Grichuk and Mark Reynolds are a combined 11 for 71 (.155) since Tuesday.

Martinez will face a Padres offense that did just enough in Friday's win. Jedd Gyorko had both RBIs in his fourth game back from Triple-A, and Yangervis Solarte extended his extra-base hitting streak to four with a triple.

"If we want to be the team we think we can, these are the games we have to win," Gyorko said. "We have to be able to come in and win games like this. I would find it hard to believe this wasn't a playoff atmosphere the way this was played tonight. ... It comes down to getting that big hit."

Looking to win a four-game series in St. Louis for the first time since May 5-8, 2005, San Diego will go with Odrisamer Despaigne (3-6, 4.94), who is 1-6 with a 5.68 ERA in 10 starts since May.

The right-hander has been plagued both by home runs - he ranks toward the bottom of the majors with 1.42 homers allowed per nine innings since joining the rotation full time - and a lack of run support. The Padres failed to score in Despaigne's first four losses and have given him only four runs in four starts since.

Despaigne, who is 0-2 with a 10.24 ERA in two career starts against St. Louis, lasted 5 2-3 innings Sunday in a 6-4 loss to Arizona, allowing five runs while striking out six.