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Rockies-Cardinals Preview

Jun 6, 2009 - 5:54 AM By ANDY LEFKOWITZ STATS Editor

Colorado (21-32) at St. Louis (31-23), 7:15 p.m. EDT

All of a sudden, the last-place Colorado Rockies are scoring in bunches.

The visiting Rockies look to extend their offensive resurgence as they continue a four-game set with the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.

Colorado scored a total of nine runs earlier this week in a loss to San Diego and three more versus Houston. After plating 10 against the Astros to win that series finale Thursday, the Rockies routed the Cardinals 11-4 on Friday.

Todd Helton's three-run double and Ian Stewart's three-run homer keyed a nine-run seventh. It was the sixth time in franchise history Colorado has scored nine runs in an inning, and it was the fourth-most allowed in one by St. Louis (31-24) dating back to 1970.

"The one inning makes it really a bad game," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "But even when the game was closer they were hitting and pitching better than we were."

The Rockies (22-32) have six homers in the last two games - one more than their previous 10 games combined - and have hit 62 this season to tie Milwaukee for second-most in the NL.

Colorado, which is 4-4 since Jim Tracy took over for the fired Clint Hurdle on May 29, is 7-1 when scoring at least 10 runs this year. The Rockies haven't scored 10 or more in three straight games since July 20-22.

Albert Pujols hit his 18th homer for St. Louis, but the two-time NL MVP's streak of reaching base at least twice in a game ended at 15. That tied Keith Hernandez in 1980 for the Cardinals' longest run in 50 years, and fell five short of tying the major league record set by Pete Rose with Philadelphia in 1979.

Pujols is hitting .483 (14 for 29) with four homers in an eight-game hitting streak.

Two pitchers who have struggled following career seasons will square off.

Aaron Cook (3-3, 4.94 ERA), a 16-game winner for Colorado in 2008, will try to snap a four-start losing streak versus the Cardinals and beat them for the first time. Since June 2006, the right-hander is 0-4 with a 5.06 ERA against La Russa's club, but has gotten just five runs of support.

After tossing a four-hitter in a 9-0 rout of Atlanta on May 21, Cook has dropped his last two starts. Facing Houston on Monday, he surrendered four runs and a season-high nine hits in six innings of a 4-1 loss.

Pujols has a single and two doubles in six career at-bats against Cook, who is looking to help Colorado win two straight in St. Louis in the same season for the first time since April 2002.

Todd Wellemeyer (5-5, 5.05), meanwhile, will try to remain unbeaten against the Rockies. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.87 ERA in four career appearances with two starts.

Coming off a career-high 13 victories last season, Wellemeyer hasn't won more than two straight starts but also hasn't dropped more than two in a row. He has the highest ERA among Cardinals starters and has allowed a team-high 74 hits.

However, he's only surrendered four homers in 11 starts this year, all in a 12-day span early last month.

Wellemeyer will try to avoid his fourth loss in six starts. On Monday against Cincinnati, he allowed four runs and five hits over five innings of a 5-3 defeat.