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Cardinals hope to rebound vs. Diamondbacks

Sep 9, 2007 - 1:39 PM St Louis (69-70) at Arizona (80-63) 4:40 pm EDT

PHOENIX (Ticker) - The St. Louis Cardinals have spent the past two weeks hovering between a game under and a game over .500. Luckily for them, the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are showing no signs of running away with the National League Central.

The Cardinals will look to get back on track when they visit the Arizona Diamondbacks in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday.

St. Louis has dropped the first two games of the series to fall two games behind both Chicago (72-69) and Milwaukee (72-69). The Cardinals scored seven runs in the third inning on Saturday but could not hold onto the lead, eventually dropping a 9-8 decision.

The win kept the Diamondbacks, who have won four straight, two games clear of the San Diego Padres (77-64) in the NL West.

St. Louis will send Brad Thompson (6-5, 5.07 ERA) to the mound on Sunday. The 25-year-old righthander will be making his first start since July 28 after spending the season bouncing back and forth from the bullpen to the rotation.

Arizona will counter with veteran Doug Davis (13-11, 3.98). The lefthander has won eight of his last nine decisions, pitching to a 3.54 ERA over that span.

He is 4-5 with a 4.81 ERA in 12 career games - 11 starts - against the Cardinals.