• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Garcia, Cardinals conclude series in Chicago

May 12, 2011 - 2:56 PM (Sports Network) - It will be awfully tough for Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia to even match, let alone surpass, his last outing, but he'll give it a try this afternoon when St. Louis goes for a series win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Garcia takes the hill for the finale of this three-game series looking to extend his personal-best winning streak to five straight decisions and is coming off perhaps the best start of his young career.

Versus the Brewers on Friday, Garcia retired the first 22 batters he faced to carry a perfect game into the eighth inning. However, he lost that bid when he gave up a walk and then his no-hit try ended with the next batter. Still, Garcia improved to 4-0 with his second shutout of the season, a two-hitter that also featured eight strikeouts.

"It's so hard not to think about [the perfect game]," said Garcia, who finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting last season. "This is definitely one of the greatest days of my short career. It was very exciting."

All three of the 24-year-old's complete games have been shutouts and he has a 1.99 earned run average through seven starts this season. He tries for his first ever win against the Cubs this afternoon as he is 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA against them.

Casey Coleman gets the call for the Cubs today and is 1-2 with a 6.29 ERA in five starts this season.

Coleman is coming off a no-decision versus the Reds, though he pitched well in throwing his first quality start of the season. The 23-year-old righty yielded two runs on four hits and three walks over six-plus innings, striking out a season-high six.

Coleman, who had lost his previous two starts, is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA lifetime when facing the Cardinals.

Chicago evened up this series last night with a big 11-4 victory that was fueled by a 17-hit attack. The Cubs blew the game open with a six-run bottom of the third inning that came right after a 53-minute rain delay. Starlin Castro drove in two runs with a single in the big frame and ended 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored and three RBI.

Matt Garza earned his second victory of the season as he pitched five innings and yielded one run on three hits while striking out seven.

"I was glad we could get five out of him," Cubs manager Mike Quade said of Garza, who pitched following a lengthy rain delay.

Carlos Pena, Alfonso Soriano and Koyie Hill each drove in two runs for the Cubs, who snapped a two-game skid and improved to 2-3 on a nine-game homestand.

Hill was starting behind the plate in place of Geovany Soto, who was placed on the disabled list Wednesday with a left groin strain. Welington Castillo was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to replace Soto on the roster and could get the start today.

Albert Pujols singled in a pair of runs for St. Louis, which had won four of five, but starter Jake Westbrook was tagged for five runs on six hits over just 2 1/3 innings as he tried to return after the delay as well.

"[Westbrook] didn't have it after the break. He had a tough outing," said Cards interim manager Joe Pettini, who is filling in for Tony La Russa while the skipper heads home to recover from shingles.

Chicago has won seven of its past 10 versus St. Louis.