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Cubs hand ball to Garza in middle test with Cards

May 11, 2011 - 2:44 PM (Sports Network) - Cubs offseason trade acquisition Matt Garza gets another chance to prove the deal was a good one tonight when Chicago plays the St. Louis Cardinals in the middle test of a three-game series at Wrigley Field.

A 27-year-old Californian, Garza was a 15-game winner for the Tampa Bays Rays last season before the Jan. 8 transaction that sent the right-hander and two players to the Cubs while five players, including early-season star Sam Fuld, went to the Rays.

Garza was a first-round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 2005 and stayed there until a 2007 deal that sent him to Tampa Bay with Jason Bartlett and a minor leaguer for Brendan Harris, Jason Pridie and Delmon Young.

He won eight games for the Twins in two seasons then won 11, eight and 15 in three years with the Rays, helping the team to a World Series appearance in 2008 and an AL East championship last fall.

He dropped his first three decisions in a Chicago uniform before breaking through with a 5-3 defeat of Arizona on April 30. That win was followed by his most recent outing, a 5-4 loss to Cincinnati in which he allowed six hits and five runs in six innings.

Garza, who's 0-2 in four Wrigley Field starts, has made one career start against the Cardinals and allowed 10 hits and seven runs in 4 1/3 innings.

St. Louis counters with 33-year-old veteran Jake Westbrook, who's in his first season with the Cardinals after a midseason deal last year that brought him in from Cleveland.

The right-hander has thus far fared better in his inaugural NL season, winning once and getting two no-decisions in his last three starts -- all Cardinals victories -- while allowing 15 hits and five runs in 18 1/3 innings.

He won 10 games in 2010 between the Indians and Cardinals and registered a career-best 15 wins with Cleveland in 2005 and 2006.

Westbrook is 2-0 against Chicago lifetime with a 3.97 earned run average in 11 1/3 innings over two starts.

In Tuesday's opener, Daniel Descalso delivered a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning to lift the Cardinals over the Cubs, 6-4.

Nick Punto went 2-for-4 while driving in a run and scoring another for the Cardinals, who won for the fourth time in five games. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was not in the dugout last night and has been diagnosed with shingles. He will be away from the team for the foreseeable future, while bench coach Joe Pettini, third base coach Jose Oquendo and pitching coach Dave Duncan will handle managerial duties until La Russa is able to return.

Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter (1-2) picked up his first win of the season despite allowing 13 hits and four runs in his seven-inning start, while Kerry Wood (1-2) took the loss in relief of Cubs righty Carlos Zambrano.

Zambrano also gave up four runs in seven frames, though he only gave up eight hits. Aramis Ramirez went 3-for-5 with two RBI in defeat, Chicago's third in four games.

Chicago went 9-6 against St. Louis a year ago.