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Cardinals-Pirates Preview

Aug 25, 2010 - 5:53 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

St. Louis (68-55) at Pittsburgh (42-84), 7:05 p.m. EDT

Twenty-three of the St. Louis Cardinals' remaining 39 games are against clubs with losing records, a schedule that would seem to give manager Tony La Russa's club an excellent chance to qualify for the postseason.

Those teams, though, are the ones St. Louis can't seem to beat.

Trying to avoid a fourth straight series loss to a sub-.500 opponent, the Cardinals send Jake Westbrook to the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

St. Louis (68-55) has taken five of six from fellow contenders Cincinnati and San Francisco this month, but the teams with little to play for have given the Cardinals fits. Ace Adam Wainwright couldn't hold an early 2-0 lead Tuesday, giving up two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh in a 4-3 loss.

The Cardinals fell to 3-7 in their last four series against the four clubs beneath them in the NL Central.

"At this point of the season we've got to win every game we can, and if I even hold them to one (run) right there we probably win that game," Wainwright said. "You can put it on me."

St. Louis has lost five of six series against sub-.500 clubs overall - a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh from July 30-Aug. 1 was the exception - and hopes Westbrook (1-1, 3.60 ERA) can prevent it from happening again.

The right-hander has delivered quality starts in all four outings since coming over from Cleveland, but hasn't gotten much offensive support. Westbrook gave up three runs over six innings of a 6-3 loss to San Francisco on Friday.

All three runs came in the first three innings, increasing his total to six during that stretch of the game over his last three starts.

"... I need to do a better job of putting up zeros early on," Westbrook told the Cardinals' official website. "It seems like the last couple times we have been playing catch up. Got to do a better job there."

Westbrook has only faced the Pirates in relief - he is 0-0 with a 1.13 ERA in four appearances, none since 2003 - but he's gotten a look at what Pittsburgh rookies Jose Tabata and Neil Walker can do.

Tabata improved his average to .366 since the All-Star break with two hits Tuesday, while Walker drove in three runs and upped his average to .326 since July 17.

Tabata is 11 for 19 against the Cardinals.

Pittsburgh will give Daniel McCutchen (1-5, 6.65) his first start since a loss at St. Louis on July 31, when he gave up four runs and walked six in 5 2-3 innings of an 11-1 defeat. McCutchen has been used out of the bullpen since then but now must fill in for Jeff Karstens, who was scratched due to arm fatigue.

McCutchen has performed well in a relief role this month, posting a 1.93 ERA in nine appearances, but he's 1-5 with an 8.18 ERA in seven starts this year.

Albert Pujols homered off McCutchen last month, sparking his current stretch of 10 home runs in 20 games which has him one shy of 400 for his career.