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Carpenter hopes to begin turnaround against Padres

May 25, 2011 - 2:44 PM (Sports Network) - The St. Louis Cardinals have built a seemingly-comfortable lead atop the National League Central Division no thanks to Chris Carpenter.

The 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner is slated to make his team-leading 11th start of the season tonight in the finale of a three-game series against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Carpenter has lost back-to-back starts since his only win of the season on May 10 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, and previously toed the rubber in Friday's 3-0 setback at Kansas City. He allowed all three runs on nine hits with five strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings to fall to 1-4 in 10 starts with a 4.88 earned run average.

The right-hander has yielded at least three runs in each of his past five starts and will face San Diego for the second time this season. Carpenter made his 2011 debut against the Padres on March 31 at Busch Stadium and threw seven innings of two-run ball for a no-decision in a 5-3 loss. He owns a 3-2 record in seven career starts against the Padres to go along with a 3.12 ERA.

St. Louis squeezed out a 3-2 win in 11 innings on Tuesday, as Daniel Descalso plated Allen Craig with a single for the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th inning and Eduardo Sanchez pitched a perfect bottom half for his fifth save. Kyle McClellan drew the start for the Cards and was aiming to become the majors' first seven-game winner, but did not record a decision. He allowed two unearned runs through six innings.

"He pitched excellent," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "And you've got to give him extra credit because he's pitching to a rookie catcher and a lot was on him to pitch his own game."

Miguel Batista was credited with the win with two shutout innings of relief.

Ryan Theriot and Lance Berkman each drove in a run, while Descalso and Tony Cruz had three hits apiece in a 12-hit attack to set up tonight's possibility of a three-game sweep. St. Louis has won four in a row and eight of its last nine games, and improved to 4-1 on a nine-game road trip which includes a stop at Colorado. It is 3 1/2 games ahead of both Cincinnati and Milwaukee in the division standings.

San Diego has dropped five in a row and seven of eight games, and got a two- run homer from Brad Hawpe in the bottom of the first inning. Chase Headley had the other hit for the Padres, who wasted a solid start from first-year Friar Aaron Harang.

Harang allowed two runs and eight hits with seven K's in seven innings for a no-decision. Ernesto Frieri later surrendered the go-ahead run in the 11th inning to absorb the loss.

"We're playing hard, we're just not getting in the win column," Padres manager Bud Black said.

Black's ballclub is 1-6 on an eight-game homestand and will hand the ball to struggling right-hander Mat Latos this evening. Latos is coming off a 4-1 loss to Seattle on Friday in which he was reached for four runs and eight hits in six innings to fall to 1-6 in eight starts with a 4.60 earned run average.

Latos, whose only win this season came on May 15 at Colorado, is 0-2 with a dreadful 25.31 ERA in two career starts against the Cardinals. He has allowed 15 runs and 17 hits in only 5 1/3 innings in this series.

San Diego won two of three matchups with the Cardinals at Busch Stadium from March 31-April 3.