• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Pujols seeks to extend home run streak to five straight

Aug 22, 2007 - 2:12 PM Florida (56-70) at St. Louis (60-62) 8:10 pm EDT

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Once again showing some signs of being the reigning World Series champions, the St. Louis Cardinals continue their three-game series with the Florida Marlins on Wednesday.

The Cardinals, who were 50-58 on August 5 and eight games out of first place in the National League Central at the time, have won 10 of their last 14 to pull within two games of .500 for the first time since April.

St. Louis, who continued its surge with a 5-2 win in Tuesday's opener, has moved within three games of co-division leaders Chicago (64-60) and Milwaukee (65-61).

A key contributor to that stretch has been Albert Pujols, who has homered in four consecutive contests - the seventh time in his career he has accomplished that feat. With another homer on Wednesday, he would set a new personal high.

Another important piece to this recent run is former Marlin reliever Braden Looper (10-10, 4.98 ERA). He spent five seasons with Florida from 1999-2003, saving 65 games during that time.

While he has appeared in relief against Florida 16 times, the righthander won his first career start against the Marlins on July 16, yielding two runs and five hits over 6 1/3 innings in a 5-3 win.

Looper took the loss against Chicago in his last turn on Friday, yielding two runs and four hits over six frames in a 2-1 setback. Overall, he is 3-2 with a 6.23 ERA against Florida.

The Marlins, who have dropped a season-high seven straight games, will turn to Scott Olsen (9-10, 5.25). He allowed three runs - two earned - and six hits over seven innings in a 3-0 loss vs. the San Francisco Giants on Friday.

The lefthander is 1-1 with a 6.17 ERA in two career starts against the Cardinals.