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Padres turn to Peavy to reverse fortunes

May 11, 2007 - 3:09 PM St. Louis (14-18) at San Diego (18-17) 10:05 pm EDT

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- In the midst of matching their longest losing streak of the season, the San Diego Padres will turn to their ace to try and stop it.

Jake Peavy and the Padres host the St. Louis Cardinals as the teams kick off a three-game weekend series at PETCO Park on Friday.

After struggling for most of last season, Peavy (4-1, 1.75 ERA) is returning to form. On his way to keeping San Diego from dropping its fourth contest in a row, Peavy will vie for his fifth win - a mark he did not reach last season until his 20th start.

The 25-year-old righthander has three straight double-digit strikeout games, recording 36 in his last 21 innings. Peavy is tied with Baltimore's Erik Bedard for the major league lead with 56 strikeouts.

Peavy had a no-hitter through five innings and finished with one run and a hit allowed over seven frames while striking out 10 in a 3-1 win over the Florida Marlins on Sunday. He has allowed one run or less in five of his seven starts with a .181 opponent batting average.

Peavy is 1-2 with a 4.11 ERA in five career starts against the Cardinals.

To get San Diego back on the winning track, the offense will need to start scoring some more runs. The Padres have managed just seven runs during their three-game skid and they have not lost four straight contests since August 14-17.

Kip Wells (1-6, 6.59) will try to put an end to a string of miserable outings for the Cardinals. He has given up at least seven runs in each of his last three starts and has given up 28 runs in 28 innings during a career-high five-start losing streak.

The righthander yielded seven runs and six hits with four walks in 4 1/3 innings of a 13-0 loss to the Houston Astros on Saturday. He has pitched well against the Padres in his career, however, going 4-1 with a 3.29 ERA in six career starts.

Much like San Diego's offense, the Cardinals have struggled to push runs across the plate as well. Before pounding the Rockies, 9-2, on Wednesday, the Cardinals had scored just 16 runs in their previous nine games.

St. Louis has won four of six after a season-high five-game losing streak.