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Aug 19, 2009 - 6:45 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

St. Louis (68-53) at Los Angeles (71-49), 10:10 p.m. EDT

Adam Wainwright has established himself as an emerging ace with the NL Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals. Now, he's looking to continue making a case for being considered among the best pitchers in baseball.

Wainwright will try to become the majors' first 15-game winner Wednesday night when the visiting Cardinals face the West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers in the finale of this three-game series.

Wainwright (14-7, 2.62 ERA) is tied with Boston's Josh Beckett for the major league lead in victories and has already matched his career high set in 2007.

The right-hander's ERA and 149 strikeouts rank fifth in the NL in their respective categories, while his 172 innings are second only to San Francisco's Tim Lincecum (178 1-3) - the reigning Cy Young Award winner.

Wainwright breakout season combined with the healthy return of ace Chris Carpenter, the 2005 Cy Young winner, gives the Cardinals (68-53) a superb 1-2 punch in one of baseball's strongest rotations.

Wainwright made another case for his own Cy Young on Friday, scattering eight hits in seven scoreless innings while helping himself with a solo homer - his second of the year - in a 9-2 win over San Diego.

"It's not just stuff, you've got to compete," manager Tony La Russa said of Wainwright's development. "You've got to hang in there, make pitches, keep grinding.

"That's a lot of consecutive, consistent, excellent performances."

Wainwright is 6-2 with a 1.21 ERA in his last nine starts, while going 6-0 with a 2.79 ERA in his last six on the road. He'll try to improve on that and help St. Louis rebound from Tuesday's 7-3 loss, only the club's second defeat in 11 games.

"I'm definitely in a place where my mechanics and arm feels great," Wainwright said. "And my defense is playing amazing behind me."

He's 2-2 with a 3.26 ERA in seven games - four starts - against Los Angeles (71-49), winning his last two while yielding one run in 15 innings.

Tuesday's win was only the second in six games for the Dodgers, who have scored 16 runs in those victories compared to eight in the four losses.

Clayton Kershaw (8-7, 2.91) would surely like some offensive support after his last five trips to the mound resulted in losses for the club due mainly to a shortage of runs.

The left-hander is 0-2 with a 2.76 ERA in his past five starts, getting six total runs of support. That stretch comes after he went 5-0 with a 0.63 ERA in his previous seven outings - all wins for Los Angeles.

Kershaw, however, was pulled with one out in the fifth inning Friday, giving up four runs - all in the fourth - and four walks while striking out nine on 97 pitches in a 4-1 loss at Arizona.

"Just a bad inning," Kershaw said. "I could have controlled the damage a lot better than I did and I didn't do it."

Kershaw is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three starts against the Cardinals. He was outstanding in his last meeting with them July 29, yielding four hits with seven strikeouts in eight innings of a 3-2, 15-inning loss.

St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols, the major league leader with 39 homers, is 4 for 7 with two doubles lifetime against Kershaw.