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Cardinals turn to Lynn against Cubs

Jul 13, 2013 - 2:24 PM (Sports Network) - Lance Lynn has been dominant in his career against the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals right-hander takes the mound Saturday in the continuation of a four-game series at Wrigley Field.

Lynn owns a career mark of 5-1 with a 2.52 ERA in seven games (6 starts) against the Cubs. This will be his third time facing them this year. Lynn suffered a 2-1 loss at Wrigley Field on May 7 despite allowing just four hits and two runs over seven innings. Lynn then beat the Cubs June 20 at Busch Stadium by limiting the NL Central foes to three hits and a run over six frames.

In his most recent start, Sunday against Miami, Lynn snapped a two-start skid by yielding only two runs over seven frames.

With his 30 wins already in just 49 starts, Lynn is the first St. Louis pitcher since Harvey Haddix (1952-54) to win 30 games in his first 71 career appearances.

Matt Garza tries to win his fifth consecutive start for the Cubs. The righty has thrown at least seven innings in each of his last five outings and is unbeaten in that stretch. Garza held the White Sox to five hits and two runs -- one earned -- on Monday at U.S. Cellular field. He's 2-1 with a 4.22 EEA in six starts against St. Louis.

Yesterday, Carlos Beltran tripled in a run in the first inning and then scored on Allen Craig's single, and the Cardinals held on for a 3-2 win. Beltran also added a double later in the game and finished with three hits.

Joe Kelly (1-3) held the early lead and gave up one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings in his third start of the season after working out of the bullpen at the start of the year. He added four strikeouts for St. Louis, which won for the sixth time in seven games.

"I felt really good out there," Kelly said. "I was working ahead of hitters most of the time."

Carlos Villanueva (2-5), who has also spent time in the bullpen this year, gave up two runs on four hits in six innings as a hard-luck loser. He retired the last 12 Cardinals he faced.

"I thought I came out well," Villanueva said. "I just couldn't put those guys away. I had a couple of them with two strikes. We did exactly what we wanted to do, just didn't execute the pitches."

Starlin Castro slammed his sixth home run for the Cubs, who had won five of six coming into Friday.

St. Louis won three out of four when these teams met in Missouri from June 17-20.