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Cards visit Brewers in battle of NL Central heavyweights

Jun 10, 2011 - 2:54 PM (Sports Network) - Only 2 1/2 games separate the National League Central- leading St. Louis Cardinals from the second-place Milwaukee Brewers in the division standings.

The Cardinals hope they can pad their lead when they begin a three-game series in Milwaukee tonight. The Cardinals opened a nine-game road trip by taking two of three games in Houston and are coming off Thursday's 9-2 win at Minute Maid Park in which Lance Berkman and Ryan Theriot both homered and Lance Lynn tossed five innings of one-run ball for the win.

"We're playing well, getting good pitching. Hopefully we keep it going," said Berkman, who has homered in three straight games since receiving a cortisone shot in his wrist.

Berkman had five RBI in the three-game set against his former club and is batting .329 with 14 homers and 43 RBI this season. Albert Pujols went 1-for-4 with a double, RBI and two runs scored in the finale at Houston. Pujols now has 435 doubles in his career, passing Hall of Famer Lou Brock for first on the club's all-time list. Pujols has recorded an extra-base hit in each of his past six contests.

St. Louis will also visit Washington for three games on the trek.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will manage the 5,000th game in his career tonight, joining Connie Mack as the only managers/coaches in American professional sports to reach that milestone. La Russa will send Kyle Lohse to the mound and the right-hander's still searching for his first win against the Brewers in a St. Louis uniform (0-4).

Lohse's last win over the Brewers was back in 2007 as a member of Cincinnati, and he owns a 3-7 record in 17 games (15 starts) with a 4.98 ERA in this matchup. Lohse pitched eight innings of one-run ball in a 4-0 setback versus Milwaukee on May 7 this season and still ended up in the loss column. He is 3-0 in his previous five outings overall and did not record a decision in last Saturday's 5-4 win over the Cubs, yielding four runs and 11 hits in 5 2/3 frames to remain at 7-2 in 12 starts to go along with a 2.41 ERA.

Milwaukee had won four in a row until losing two of three meetings with the New York Mets at Miller Park this week. In a 4-1 loss on Thursday, usually- dominant starter Yovani Gallardo was roughed up for four runs and 10 hits in just four innings to suffer his third loss of the season (8-3).

"He was off tonight and he had trouble with his command," said Ron Roenicke. "They didn't miss much with the bats. He just couldn't put his curveball in there and they took advantage of it."

Prince Fielder had two hits and drove in the only run for the Brewers, who were outhit by a lopsided 11-4 margin and committed three errors. Corey Hart and Ryan Braun had the other hits in defeat. The Brewers are still a dominant 22-9 at Miller Park this season.

Chris Narveson takes the hill for the Brewers tonight and he's only 2-4 with a 4.85 earned run average in 12 starts. He owns an 0-1 record in his past four trips to the mound and did not record a decision in Sunday's 6-5 win in 11 innings at Florida in which he was reached for four runs over 5 1/3 frames.

Narveson is 2-1 in five home starts and lost at St. Louis on May 8 in a 3-1 decision. The lefty gave up three runs -- two earned -- in six innings to fall to 1-2 with a 3.75 ERA in 11 career games (4 starts) against the Cardinals.

St. Louis took two of three meetings from Milwaukee in early May, but the Brewers have won eight of the previous 13 matchups in this series.