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Brewers' Greinke puts unbeaten streak to the test vs. Cardinals

Jun 11, 2011 - 3:07 PM (Sports Network) - Milwaukee Brewers starter Zack Greinke will put his unbeaten streak on the line tonight versus the St. Louis Cardinals in the second installment of a three-game series from Miller Park.

Since losing his Brewers debut on May 4 at Atlanta, allowing five runs -- four earned -- in four innings of an 8-0 loss, Greinke is 5-0 with a less desirable 4.38 earned run average in six starts -- all Milwaukee wins. He was last in action in Monday's 7-2 victory at Florida and limited the Marlins to two runs in seven innings to push his record to 5-1 in seven starts.

The right-hander and 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner with Kansas City is unbeaten in four starts at home (3-0) and will make his seventh career appearance against St. Louis. In six games, four of which have been starts, against the Cardinals, the right-hander's 3-2 with a 4.15 ERA.

Countering for the Cardinals is a Cy Young winner in Chris Carpenter. The 2005 recipient of the NL honor is 0-3 with a 4.15 ERA in five starts since his only victory on May 10 at Chicago.

Carpenter has recorded back-to-back no-decisions and previously toed the rubber in Sunday's 3-2, 10-inning win over the Cubs at Busch Stadium. The righty lasted nine innings and allowed two runs on seven hits and a pair of walks with six strikeouts. Carpenter, who is only 1-4 in seven road starts in 2011, is 1-5 with a 4.25 ERA in 13 outings this season and will make his 12th career start against Milwaukee. He is 4-4 with a 4.87 ERA through the first 11 appearances in this matchup.

Milwaukee hammered the Cardinals, 8-0, in last night's series opener behind eight shutout innings from Chris Narveson, who struck out six batters and walked only one to improve to 3-4 on the season. Tim Dillard closed the door in the ninth to preserve the blanking.

"I was able to command the strike zone and get outs," Narveson said. "You always need an outing like this."

Ryan Braun and Corey Hart both homered, while Nyjer Morgan drove in a pair of runs and Craig Counsell went 3-for-3 with three runs scored for Milwaukee, which has won six of eight games and is 2-2 on a six game homestand. The Brewers are 23-9 at home this season and has not lost back-to-back games in Brew City in 2011. Milwaukee dropped a 4-1 decision to the Mets on Thursday before exploding for eight runs last night.

The Brewers also pulled within 1 1/2 games of St. Louis for the top spot in the NL Central standings.

St. Louis entered last night's game having won five of six games, but starting pitcher Kyle Lohse had a rare rough outing and allowed four runs through five innings to fall to 7-3 on the season. Ryan Franklin and Brian Tallet both gave up two runs in relief for the Cardinals, who are 2-2 on a nine-game road trip.

Ryan Theriot continued his hot play with a team-best two hits, while Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa managed the 5,000th game of his career in defeat, joining Connie Mack as the only managers/coaches in American professional sports to reach that milestone.

"It's a very simple life," La Russa said. "You're excited when you win and disappointed when you lose."

The Central-leading Cardinals will also visit Washington for three games on the current road swing and are 20-15 away from Busch Stadium. Theriot, meanwhile, had his career-best 20-game hitting streak stopped on Wednesday and owns hits in 22 of his previous 23 games. He is batting over .300 in his career at Miller Park.

Albert Pujols is riding an eight-game hitting streak in which he's batting .387 with five homers and nine RBI. Pujols is hitting .333 against Greinke in his career, going 3-for-9 with a double and three walks.

St. Louis took two of three meetings from Milwaukee in early May, but the Brewers have won nine of the previous 14 matchups in this series.