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Jun 8, 2010 - 6:23 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (33-25) at Los Angeles (34-24), 10:10 p.m. EDT

After continuing his dominance of one opponent, St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter gets to face another club he has enjoyed great success against - although not the last time he opposed them.

Carpenter will try to improve to 6-0 in the regular season against the Los Angeles Dodgers when the teams continue a three-game set Tuesday night at Chavez Ravine.

The St. Louis right-hander won his second straight outing overall Wednesday and defeated Cincinnati for the eight consecutive time, allowing one run over eight innings of a 4-1 victory.

"If you look at his record, he's been really special and tough against a lot of clubs," manager Tony La Russa said.

Carpenter (7-1, 2.76 ERA) has been quite tough on the Dodgers (34-24), going 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in six career regular-season meetings, including 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in two starts versus Los Angeles last year.

However, he gave up four runs over five innings of a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers in Game 1 of an NL division series last October. The series ended with the Cardinals (33-25) getting swept in three games.

Carpenter is 9-0 with a 2.42 ERA in his last 14 regular-season road starts.

La Russa opted to give Carpenter an extra day of rest but that may not be so wise - the pitcher is 5-0 with a 1.91 ERA in eight outings with regular rest and 1-1 with a 5.21 ERA in three when he's had five days or more between starts.

The manager's decision didn't pay off Monday as Blake Hawksworth endured a difficult first major league start, allowing six runs in four innings of a 12-4 loss.

"It was a just a rough night," La Russa said.

Blake DeWitt hit his first home run of the year and drove in a career-high five runs as Los Angeles enjoyed a rare rout. The Dodgers' previous six victories were all by one run.

"It was a great night all around," DeWitt said. "We put pressure on them and had great pitching."

Ryan Ludwick homered twice and Brendan Ryan drove in the other two runs for the Cardinals, who were missing two regulars.

Third baseman David Freese sat out his second straight game because of a sprained right ankle and isn't expected to return to the starting lineup until Friday. Center fielder Colby Rasmus was out of the lineup because of tightness in his left calf a day after he left early against Milwaukee.

"I get the feeling that Colby has the chance to play (Tuesday) or Wednesday," La Russa told the Cardinals' official website.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre rested slumping Russell Martin for the second straight game. The catcher, mired in a 4-for-21 slump, could be back in the lineup Tuesday.

Los Angeles starter Hiroki Kuroda (5-4, 3.63) has dropped three straight starts for the first time in his career, posting a 6.19 ERA in that span. The right-hander yielded four runs over six innings Thursday in a 4-3 loss to Atlanta.

Kuroda has faced the Cardinals once, allowing two runs in six innings of the Dodgers' 5-3, 10-inning victory July 30, 2009, in St. Louis.