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Cardinals go for series sweep of Orioles

Jun 30, 2011 - 3:13 PM (Sports Network) - The St. Louis Cardinals shoot for a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles when the two clubs wrap up an interleague series tonight from Camden Yards.

The Cardinals have taken the first two portions of this set in convincing fashion, with a 6-2 victory in Tuesday's series opener followed by a 5-1 triumph last night. Chris Carpenter won his second straight start by recording his second complete game of the season, holding the Orioles to a run on seven hits to improve to 3-7 on the season. He struck out five and walked one.

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun, no question about it," Carpenter said. "I got myself in a bit of a jam there in the fifth but I was able to get out of it with some good pitches. "From that point on I controlled counts and controlled the game."

Colby Rasmus backed Carpenter with a two-run homer and Skip Schumaker added a pair of hits, including an RBI single for St. Louis, which has won back-to- back games after being swept in its previous series against Toronto. The Cardinals are one game behind Milwaukee for the NL Central lead and will visit Tampa Bay for three games after this series with Baltimore.

Jaime Garcia will take the mound for St. Louis tonight and is 0-2 with a 3.09 ERA over his last four starts. Garcia, who started the year 5-0 over his first 10 starts, was beaten by the Blue Jays in a 6-3 decision on Saturday and allowed five runs -- one earned -- in seven innings. The lefty is now 6-3 in 16 starts with a 3.06 ERA and owns a 2-2 mark in nine road starts.

Garcia will face the Orioles for the first time.

Baltimore hopes to avoid a sweep and has lost 11 of its last 16 games. In Wednesday's setback to the Cardinals, Nick Markakis doubled home J.J. Hardy in the third inning for the team's only run of the game.

Markakis and Hardy both finished with two hits for the Orioles, while starter Chris Jakubauskas absorbed the loss for giving up five runs and seven hits in five innings.

"I don't know if it's a trend, but if you give Carpenter a little cushion early on, it presents a challenge for you," Orioles' manager Buck Showalter said of his team's recent affinity for falling behind early.

The Orioles will kick off a 10-game road trip tomorrow against the Braves, Rangers and Red Sox.

Orioles starter Brian Matusz looks to end a personal three-game losing streak in which he has posted an 11.12 earned run average. Matusz was banged around for six runs and nine hits through 4 2/3 innings of a 10-5 loss to Cincinnati last Saturday and fell to 1-3 in five starts with a 6.85 ERA.

Matusz has given up four runs or more in three straight outings and owns just a 1-2 mark in three trips to the Camden Yards mound this season. He has never faced St. Louis in his career.

The Cardinals won two of three meetings with Baltimore from June 6-8, 2003 at Busch Stadium.