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Cardinals and Cubs set for rubber-game

Aug 10, 2008 - 7:11 AM St. Louis (65-54) at Chi Cubs (70-47) 8:05 p.m. EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Cardinals will turn to Chris Carpenter when they take on the Chicago Cubs in the rubber match of a key National League Central series on Sunday.

St. Louis (65-54) trails Chicago (70-47) by six games in the Central and Milwaukee (66-51) by two games in the wild-card chase.

Carpenter (0-0, 1.00 ERA) will be making his third start since returning from "Tommy John" surgery. He has allowed one run in nine innings, including five frames of shutout ball in his last start on August 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers before he was removed from the game after a lengthy rain delay.

The righthander has not earned a win in the majors since a 5-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series.

The 33-year-old is 7-2 in 13 lifetime starts against Chicago with a 3.07 ERA.

Ryan Dempster (12-5, 2.93) takes the ball for the Cubs, who will look to avoid losing a home series for the first time since June 24-26, when they dropped two of three to the Baltimore Orioles. Chicago boasts an NL best 44-17 record at home.

The righthander will look to return to form at home, where he is 0-2 in his last 3 starts after posting a 10-0 record in his first 11 starts at Wrigley Field. In his last four starts overall, he is 2-1 with a 1.38 ERA over 26 innings.