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Wainwright looks to helps Cardinals take series from Braves

Aug 26, 2007 - 3:13 PM Atlanta (67-63) at St Louis (62-64) 2:15 pm EDT

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Adam Wainwright takes the mound as the St. Louis Cardinals aim to continue their surprising playoff run in the rubber game of a three-game series with the fading Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Despite being the reigning world champions, the Cardinals (62-64) were 8 1/2 games out of first place in the National League Central as recently as August 5. However, St. Louis has won 11 of 18 since and now trails the first-place Chicago Cubs (66-62) by three games.

On Saturday, the Cardinals sent 10 men to the plate in a five-run fifth inning en route to snapping the nine-game winning streak of the Braves' Tim Hudson with a 5-4 victory.

After a shaky start to his conversion from reliever to starter, Adam Wainwright (11-9, 3.97 ERA) has been one of the reasons behind St. Louis' charge. The righthander is 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA over his last five starts.

On Tuesday, Wainwright allowed two runs and nine hits in six innings, but did not factor into the decision in a 5-2 win over the Florida Marlins.

Meanwhile, Atlanta has lost seven of 10 and trail the New York Mets (73-55) by a season-high seven games in the NL East.

Rookie Jo-Jo Reyes (0-1, 9.52) takes the hill for the Braves, who starters have an 8.62 ERA in their last seven losses.

Reyes, who has failed to make it out of the third inning in his past two starts, is still searching for his first win of the season after allowing five runs and four hits in 2 2/3 frames of an 8-7 loss at the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.