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Astros-Cardinals Preview

May 12, 2010 - 6:23 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Houston (10-21) at St. Louis (20-12), 8:15 p.m. EDT

With their lead atop the NL Central shrinking, the St. Louis Cardinals may be especially happy to see Houston Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez.

The Cardinals have accounted for 10 of the left-hander's 56 career losses, and they'll try to beat him for the second time in 2010 as the teams continue their series in St. Louis on Wednesday night.

Cincinnati has won four in a row to pull within two games of the first-place Cardinals, who've dropped five of seven. They've been held to three or fewer runs in each of the losses in that stretch, getting shut out twice.

St. Louis (20-13) had a 2-0 lead in Tuesday night's series opener against the NL-worst Astros before allowing four unearned runs in the seventh inning of a 6-3 defeat.

Manager Tony La Russa partially blamed the Cardinals' offense, which hit into two double plays and stranded eight runners.

"We had three or four chances, good chances with good hitters up there," La Russa said. "When you don't add runs, you put yourself in this position."

Although reigning NL MVP Albert Pujols went 2 for 4, he was held without an RBI for the fourth straight game and has one in his last eight. Cleanup hitter Matt Holliday drove in a run but has four RBIs in his last 18 games.

"We all are in a rut," Pujols said. "I don't feel comfortable, I think Matt feels the same way."

Rodriguez probably doesn't feel comfortable after losing his last three starts against St. Louis, slipping to 3-10 with a 4.17 ERA in 16 meetings. Rodriguez doesn't have more than six losses against any other opponent.

He gave up four runs in 4 1-3 innings of a 5-0 loss at St. Louis on April 12. Pujols had been 5 for 31 (.161) without a homer against Rodriguez coming into that game, but the slugger went 2 for 2 with a three-run homer and a walk.

"This guy is a good hitter," Rodriguez said. "I can make a mistake and he wins, that's what happened."

Rodriguez (1-4, 4.59) made several mistakes against Arizona on Thursday, allowing nine hits and five runs in 3 2-3 innings of a 6-3 loss.

"One of Wandy's big assets is he's able to use both sides of the plate with command of his fastball and change speeds, and it looked like everything got too much of the plate," manager Brad Mills told the Astros' official website.

Kyle Lohse (0-2, 5.45) will be on the mound attempting to prevent the Cardinals' first back-to-back home losses and first series loss at Busch Stadium.

The right-hander allowed two runs in seven innings of a 5-1 loss to Houston on April 15. He has a 2.73 ERA in 12 starts against the Astros.

Lohse wasn't as sharp in his last start, giving up nine hits and five runs - three earned - in four innings of a 7-2 loss at Philadelphia on Thursday.

While the Phillies boast one of the NL's most powerful offenses, the Astros (11-21) rank last in the majors in runs (91) and on-base percentage (.270). Houston scored more than four runs for the first time in 14 games Tuesday.

The Astros have won two in a row after losing 11 of 12. They're 2-2 at Busch Stadium, where all other visitors are 2-8.