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Cardinals-Diamondbacks Preview

Apr 20, 2010 - 6:44 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (9-4) at Arizona (5-8), 9:40 p.m. EDT

A strong outing from ace Dan Haren might be exactly what the Arizona Diamondbacks need to help end their current skid.

Haren looks to continue his success against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night, and help the Diamondbacks avoid a sixth consecutive loss in the process.

Two weeks into the season, Arizona's coaching staff has not limited Haren (1-1, 3.60 ERA), who's thrown 229 pitches in 13 innings over last two starts. He allowed two runs, struck out seven and threw a career-high 121 pitches in 6 1-3 innings of a 6-5 10-inning loss at Los Angeles on Thursday.

"He gave us everything he had," manager A.J. Hinch told the Diamondbacks' official website. "We squeezed every last pitch out of him that we could."

Hinch might not hesitate to extend Haren against St. Louis. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA against the team he broke into the major leagues with in 2003.

The Cardinals (9-4), who've won each of their first four series in 2010, rallied from an early two-run deficit for a 4-2 victory Monday. Matt Holliday went 3 for 5 with his fourth home run, and Colby Rasmus had two hits with an RBI as St. Louis won for the third time in four games at Arizona (5-8).

Holliday is 6 for 8 in his last two games after going 0 for 16 in his previous five, and 5 for 11 with two home runs against Haren.

After receiving another solid seven innings from newcomer Brad Penny, the Cardinals turn to Kyle Lohse (0-1, 4.15) to help continue the success of a starting rotation that's 8-1 with a major-league leading 2.12 ERA this season.

"Our starting rotation has been outstanding, and we're going to need to keep that up," manager Tony La Russa said. "Everybody's in a good place."

Even Lohse, who'll try a third time for his first victory of 2010.

Lohse, who won his first three decisions before finishing 6-10 during an injury-plagued 2009 season, allowed two runs in seven innings of a 5-1 home loss to Houston on Thursday.

The right-hander is 2-1 with a 3.46 ERA in six starts versus the Diamondbacks.

Mark Reynolds had two hits and drove in both runs Monday for Arizona, which has blown a lead six times in seven games. The Diamondbacks have scored 13 runs, and their bullpen has a 12.79 ERA during the five-game slide.

"We have guys here in the big leagues that need to make plays and come through when they're given the opportunity," Hinch said. "We can come up with any excuse we want to make us feel better. The bottom line is we have a reminder of whether we win or lose every night."

Though Reynolds is batting .208 this season, he's 5 for 8 with four RBIs in his last two games. He's a lifetime .318 hitter versus the Cardinals.

The Diamondbacks continue this series without outfielder and leadoff man Connor Jackson, who was placed on the disabled list Monday with a strained right hamstring.