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May 14, 2016 - 6:54 AM Carlos Martinez's eye-catching start to the season is a few weeks in the rearview mirror. With another poor start, his struggles since will have almost balanced out that four-start winning streak.

Ensuring it doesn't get to that point could come Saturday night in Los Angeles as the St. Louis Cardinals face the Dodgers, and the right-hander is hoping a disruptive illness has run its course.

Martinez (4-2, 2.61 ERA) was 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA entering May but has lost his last two starts with five runs and 10 hits allowed in 10 innings.

He gave up a run and three hits with three walks in 3 1/3 innings of a 4-2 home loss to Pittsburgh on May 6 and had this start pushed back two days as he overcame a respiratory illness that caused him to drop 15 pounds.

He threw 51 pitches before fatigue set in against the Pirates.

"It looked like he was on the mend and things were going in a good direction and he just kind of didn't have it," manager Mike Matheny told MLB's official website. "He was hydrated, and he passed everybody's test. We didn't see anything that was making us concerned that this might be the case."

The Dodgers might be the team to re-establish himself against. Martinez is 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA in five starts and a relief appearance against them, which includes a run and four hits allowed in 14 innings of two wins last season.

Adrian Gonzalez is 1 for 10 against him, but Yasiel Puig is 3 for 5.

Martinez is up against Scott Kazmir, who's surrendered nine home runs in his seven starts with the Dodgers, all of which have come in four multihomer outings.

The last two have fit that description with the latest being Monday's 4-2 home loss to the New York Mets after the left-hander gave up four runs – three earned – and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. Two left the yard.

"It's definitely not written up the way I wanted, that's for sure," Kazmir said. "I feel like I'm really close to getting where I want to be. I don't want to look too far in the past of what happened. That's in the past. I'm confident out there. I know what I'm doing. It's just a matter of executing."

Kazmir (2-3, 5.54) has been hit hard by Matt Holliday (4 for 9 with two home runs), but his recent hot streak wasn't nearly enough as Los Angeles (19-17) took the first of the three-game series with Friday's 8-4 win.

Holliday had two hits Friday and is 9 for 19 in the past four games, while Yadier Molina is 9 for 16 in the same span.

The Cardinals (19-17) saw their three-game winning streak come to an end after sweeping the Los Angeles Angels. They've given up 18 runs and 26 hits in the last two games.

The Dodgers have returned to offensive normalcy after a 1-6 span over which they averaged 1.7 runs per game and hit .167. On the 6-4 span since, they've scored 4.8.

Puig was 3 for 5 with a home run Friday after going 3 for 24 without an extra-base hit or RBI in his previous seven.