• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Padres-Cardinals Preview

Aug 15, 2009 - 5:21 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

San Diego (49-67) at St. Louis (64-52), 7:15 p.m. EDT

It's been well over a month since the St. Louis Cardinals lost a game started by Joel Pineiro. That run could continue with the San Diego Padres in town.

Pineiro looks for a fifth straight victory while trying to help the first-place Cardinals win their eighth straight home game over the Padres on Saturday night.

One of three St. Louis pitchers with 10 or more wins, Pineiro (10-9, 3.22 ERA) is 4-0 with a 2.76 ERA in seven starts since losing to Minnesota on June 28. The Cardinals (65-52), who have a 4 1/2-game lead in the NL Central, are 7-0 during that stretch.

Pineiro has won 10 games for the first time since going 16-11 for Seattle in 2003.

Though Pineiro didn't think he was sharp in his last outing, he allowed three runs in seven innings to earn the win in a 7-3 victory at Pittsburgh on Sunday.

"It just one of those things," Pineiro told the Cardinals' official Web site. "You never get down on yourself. With the offense that we have it was just a matter of one inning or a couple of hitters come through."

The Cardinals' lineup came through with 15 hits in a 9-2 win over the Padres (49-68) in Friday's series opener for their 12th victory in 16 games.

"Every night and every day we take the field, we go with the attitude of winning," said St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, who's batting .457 in his last nine games. "It doesn't matter who we face."

Matt Holliday had three hits with three RBIs and Adam Wainwright became the majors' second 14-game winner Friday for St. Louis, which hasn't lost to San Diego at Busch Stadium since falling 4-0 on Aug. 7, 2007.

Holliday has three straight three-hit games and is batting .493 with 20 RBIs in 19 games since being acquired by the Cardinals in a trade with Oakland last month.

Kevin Kouzmanoff hit his 15th homer - a two-run shot - for the Padres, who have lost two in a row after winning 11 of 15.

"We've got a great young club and we've really got things going on," San Diego second baseman and former Cardinal David Eckstein said of the club's improved play.

Kouzmanoff is 13 for 20 with seven RBIs in his last five games, and 2 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs against Pineiro.

Tim Stauffer (1-4, 2.90) looks to avoid a third straight losing start as he takes the ball for the Padres.

The right-hander allowed one run and struck out six in five innings of a 5-1 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday.

"You never want to go just five innings. I need to be a little more aggressive," Stauffer told the Padres' official Web site.

Stauffer lost his only start against the Cardinals on July 28, 2005, allowing seven runs in 3 1-3 innings of an 11-3 loss at home.