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Garcia tries to remain unbeaten in finale of brief set with Phils

May 17, 2011 - 2:47 PM (Sports Network) - Unbeaten St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Jaime Garcia aims to continue his hot start to the season when he takes on the Philadelphia Phillies tonight in the finale of a two-game series at Busch Stadium.

Garcia is 5-0 with a superb 1.89 earned run average in eight starts, and the Cardinals are 5-3 when he takes the hill. Garcia allowed one run in seven innings during his last start, a 9-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Thursday. He allowed nine hits that day with four strikeouts and one walk.

The Mexican southpaw is tied with Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens for the highest winning percentage in the National League. Garcia, who tossed a shutout versus Milwaukee on May 6, has faced the Phillies four times in his career (2 starts), going 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA.

St. Louis could use another strong start on the hill and got one from Jake Westbrook in Monday's 3-1 win over Philadelphia. Westbrook delivered seven innings of one-run ball before Eduardo Sanchez and Fernando Salas each threw a scoreless inning of relief. Salas notched his fourth save in the ninth to help the Cardinals end a three-game slide.

"It's always big to end a losing streak," Westbrook said. "You always want to be out there, the guy who shuts it down and gets a win."

Ryan Theriot and Nick Punto both finished with two hits and an RBI for the Cardinals, who won for the second time in six tries. Jon Jay had the other RBI and Yadier Molina posted two hits in a winning effort.

Phillies starter Cliff Lee fell to 2-4 on the season last night, as he allowed all three runs on six hits and six walks over 6 1/3 innings.

"I felt like I threw a lot of strikes that were called balls, but whatever, it is what it is," Lee said. "I'm the pitcher and he's the umpire, and it's his job to call balls and strikes, and he felt like they were balls, I guess."

Ben Francisco knocked in the only run for the Phillies, who have lost three in a row and fell to 3-4 on an eight-game road trip. Jimmy Rollins collected two hits in a losing effort.

Philadelphia, which will return home for a nine-game residency after Tuesday's contest, is slated to send Roy Oswalt to the hill this evening. Oswalt was just on the disabled list with lower back inflammation and last pitched in a 7-5 loss at Arizona on April 26. He was pounded for five runs and six hits in only three innings, falling to 3-1 with a 3.33 ERA in five starts this season.

Oswalt didn't pitch well in a rehab stint with Single-A Clearwater, allowing three runs and seven hits in five innings. The right-hander has faced St. Louis plenty of times in his career from his days with the Astros, going 9-8 with a 3.19 ERA in 28 games, 27 of which have been starts.

St. Louis and Philadelphia split eight meetings a year ago.