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Cardinals-Pirates Preview

Sep 22, 2010 - 4:01 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

St. Louis (77-72) at Pittsburgh (51-98), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The Pittsburgh Pirates may be merely delaying the inevitable, but strong pitching has spurred their longest winning streak in more than a year.

Charlie Morton will try to keep the run going with his first win since early May when the Pirates continue their three-game home series with the fading St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.

Pittsburgh (52-98) appears destined for its first 100-loss season since 2001. The club has been able to delay reaching that dubious mark by winning the first four contests on its nine-game homestand including a 5-2 win over the Cardinals (77-73) on Tuesday.

"The staff has settled in a little bit, guys are playing hard, and they still have goals in mind they'd like to accomplish," manager John Russell said. "It's good they're not just looking forward to that last day (of the season) in Florida and in heading off to the offseason.

"They're still playing hard and still competing."

Pittsburgh's starting rotation has a 3.08 ERA during the winning streak - more than two runs better than its major league-worst 5.36 mark on the season.

Morton (1-11, 8.61 ERA) will search once again for his first win since beating the Cubs on May 5. The right-hander is 0-6 with a 7.43 ERA in eight starts since.

He didn't get a decision in Thursday's 6-2 loss at New York, but it was his eighth consecutive start and 13th of 14 to result in a Pittsburgh defeat. He allowed two runs, five hits and a season-high four walks in five innings.

Morton may be in for another rough outing against St. Louis. He has compiled a 11.70 ERA while losing all three of his career meetings with the Cardinals.

St. Louis has dropped six of nine and 24 of 30, as its magic number for elimination from the NL Central race is down to four.

"We're trying to win," center fielder Colby Rasmus told the team's official website. "We just can't seem to put a finger on what's going on. I just chalk it up to baseball. Nobody's coming in here wanting to lose. Everybody wants to do good. We just ain't got no mojo right now."

St. Louis starter Kyle Lohse (4-7, 6.75) will try to continue his dominance of the Pirates.

The veteran right-hander is 5-0 with a 2.26 ERA in eight games - seven starts - against Pittsburgh. He beat the Pirates again Aug. 23, yielding two runs in 5 1-3 innings of a 10-2 win at PNC Park.

Lohse is seeking to win three consecutive starts overall for the first time since a six-game streak May 24-June 20, 2008.

"I'm just trying to finish the season strong and get some momentum for the end of the year," said Lohse, who has won his last two outings after dropping three of his previous four.