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Cardinals eye sweep of Marlins in south Florida

Aug 7, 2011 - 3:10 PM (Sports Network) - The St. Louis Cardinals have their sights set on a four- game sweep of the Florida Marlins this afternoon from Sun Life Stadium.

The Cardinals made it three straight wins over the Marlins with Saturday's 2-1 victory, as slugger Albert Pujols set the tone early with a two-run homer in the first inning. Daniel Descalso recorded three hits for St. Louis, which has won six of its last nine games and is 4-2 on a seven-game road trip.

Chris Carpenter earned the win with 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and struck out seven batters to push his 2011 record to 7-8. Fernando Salas tossed a scoreless ninth for his 21st save.

"I was able to make pitches when I had to," Carpenter said. "That's what you're supposed to do as a starter."

After today's game the Cardinals will return to the Gateway City for a six- game homestand versus Milwaukee and Colorado. They are still three games behind Milwaukee for the NL Central lead.

Jaime Garcia's been shaky over his last few outings, going 1-2 with a 3.20 ERA in four starts since a personal three-game winning streak. Garcia gets the nod today for the Cardinals and last pitched in Tuesday's 8-7 win at Milwaukee in which he allowed seven runs -- three earned -- and 10 hits in five innings for the no-decision.

Garcia is 4-3 in 13 road starts with a 4.79 ERA and 10-5 overall in 23 trips to the hill. The left-hander faced Florida for the first time in his career last May 19 in a 5-1 loss at Busch Stadium and did not factor in the outcome with five scoreless innings, six strikeouts and four walks.

Florida is aiming to salvage the finale of this set and is 0-3 so far on a 10- game homestand. It has dropped five of its last eight games and wasted a solid performance from starter Ricky Nolasco, who allowed 10 hits but gave up only two runs on a Pujols homer over seven innings of work.

"It was a hanging curveball. A fast runner at first -- just with the slide step -- got behind it a little bit, and it stayed up, and he doesn't miss those kind of pitches," Nolasco said of Pujols' home run. "Obviously a difference in the game."

The Marlins pushed their only run of the game across in the fourth inning, when Gaby Sanchez scored after DeWayne Wise was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Florida was outhit by a 14-6 margin and will also host the Braves and Giants on this homestand. Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez could be back in the lineup Sunday and has been bothered by a left shoulder sprain. He hasn't played since Tuesday against the New York Mets.

Florida will hand the ball to Javier Vazquez Sunday and the veteran is just 7-9 with a 4.88 ERA in 22 starts this season. He has won four of his last six decisions, but did not figure into the outcome of Monday's 7-3 win at the Mets. Vazquez tossed seven innings of one-run ball for the second straight time and allowed six hits.

Vazquez, a right-hander, is only 3-6 in nine home starts this season and is aiming for a measure of revenge against the Cardinals, who roughed him up for six runs -- four earned -- over 5 2/3 innings of an 8-7 Florida win back on May 4 this season. Vazquez may have avoided the loss that day, but he is only 3-7 with a 4.11 ERA in 12 career starts against St. Louis.

The Marlins and Cardinals split a four-game series in St. Louis in early May.