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Aug 28, 2010 - 4:15 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (68-57) at Washington (54-74), 7:05 p.m. EDT

It's been more than a year since Kyle Lohse won two straight starts. Facing the Washington Nationals could help the St. Louis veteran do it again.

The right-hander tries to win his fourth straight start against the Nationals and help the visiting Cardinals to a second consecutive victory Saturday night.

In his second start since spending almost three months on the disabled list with a forearm strain, Lohse (2-5, 6.47 ERA) gave up two runs in 5 1-3 innings of a 10-2 win at Pittsburgh on Monday.

"It's been a long time coming," said Lohse, who has not won consecutive starts since April 2009. "It feels good to contribute and have a good outing and get a win. I've still got a lot of room for improvement."

Lohse's other victory came May 17, when he allowed two runs two runs and struck out four in six innings of a 6-2 win over Washington. He is 3-1 with a 4.82 ERA in seven starts versus the Nationals franchise, and has given up two earned runs in 18 innings while winning his last three starts versus Washington.

The Cardinals (69-57) snapped a three-game skid and evened the four-game set with a 4-2 win Friday. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday each homered as St. Louis remained four games behind first-place Cincinnati in the NL Central. The Cardinals had lost 8 of 11 - including three straight to last-place teams.

"Huge games for us, especially the situation we're in right now," Friday's winning pitcher Jaime Garcia said.

Pujols, who hit his 400th homer and twisted his ankle in Thursday's series-opening loss, connected for his 35th of the season and fourth in as many games at Nationals Park.

The All-Star slugger is 17 for 33 with five home runs and eight RBIs in his last nine games versus Washington. Pujols is a lifetime .343 hitter with three homers against scheduled starter Livan Hernandez (8-9, 3.36), who looks to bounce back from one of his worst outings of the season.

The right-hander, 0-2 with a 4.74 ERA in his last four starts, allowed seven runs, 10 hits and four walks in 4 1-3 innings of a 9-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday.

Hernandez is 5-7 with a 4.58 ERA in 18 starts against St. Louis.

Hours after learning prized right-hander Stephen Strasburg will likely need Tommy John surgery and could miss the 2011 season, the Nationals (54-73) lost for the fifth time in six games. Washington, which won 11-10 in 13 innings Thursday, has totaled seven runs in those five defeats.

"Was it my toughest day here? I can't really rank them or anything," Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. "I certainly would like to win more ballgames."

Washington's Ian Desmond is 7 for 12 in the series after going 3 for 5 on Friday. He is 13 for 20 against the Cardinals in 2010.