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Giants-Cardinals Preview

Jul 1, 2009 - 6:21 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

San Francisco (42-34) at St. Louis (41-38), 8:15 p.m. EDT

Matt Cain didn't fare well in his latest attempt to win his 10th game. Facing the struggling St. Louis Cardinals might help him finally accomplish that feat.

On Wednesday night, the right-hander looks to become the NL's second 10-game winner while trying to help the Giants to a fourth straight victory in the continuation of a four-game road set versus the Cardinals.

One night after Colorado's Jason Marquis became the first NL pitcher to 10 wins, Cain (9-2, 2.57 ERA) makes his third attempt at his 10th.

In his last outing, Cain matched a season high by allowing five runs and six hits while striking out nine in seven innings of a 5-1 loss at Milwaukee on Friday. He also gave up five runs against Colorado in his previous defeat on May 2.

The right-hander was 7-0 with a 1.87 ERA in nine starts between losses.

"You want to keep winning. You want to keep doing well for your team," Cain told the Giants' official Web site.

Cain is 1-1 with a 6.48 ERA in three starts against St. Louis. Though he allowed nine runs in 3 2-3 innings of a loss at Busch Stadium last season, he gave up one earned run in 6 1-3 innings of a 4-2 home win over the Cardinals on May 29.

Cain could have the advantage against St. Louis (41-38), which has lost three in a row and six of seven.

On Tuesday, Bengie Molina and Edgar Renteria each drove in two runs, and Pablo Sandoval added an RBI in a 6-3 win for the Giants (42-34), who are batting .282 while going 5-3 on a 10-game road trip

Sandoval, among the NL leaders with a .338 batting average, has five RBIs in five games versus the Cardinals this season.

Though St. Louis is batting .198 while scoring 13 runs in its last seven games, star Albert Pujols continues his outstanding season. The reigning NL MVP hit two home runs Tuesday for his third multihomer game in his last 10 contests.

His 35 RBIs in June are a career high for any month and his 14 homers in the month matched his career best in April 2006. Pujols leads the majors with 30 homers and 77 RBIs. That three-month total is the Cardinals' best since Mark McGwire had 37 homers and 87 RBIs at the end of June 1998 during his then-record setting 70-homer season.

"It's a great accomplishment," said Pujols, who is 4 for 8 with a homer and four RBIs versus Cain. "But my job is to go out there and do everything I can to help my team win every night and obviously it hasn't happened the last couple of games."

St. Louis could be without newly acquired utility man Mark DeRosa, who injured his wrist Tuesday in his third game since being traded from Cleveland on Saturday. He is 0 for 9 with the Cardinals.

Though he pitched well in his last outing, Adam Wainwright (8-5, 3.51) looks to bounce back from his first loss since June 5. The right-hander, who won his previous three starts, gave up three runs - two earned - and seven hits in seven innings of a 3-1 loss to Minnesota on Friday.

Wainwright is 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA against San Francisco.