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Cardinals turn to Thompson to halt skid

Sep 14, 2008 - 7:27 AM St. Louis (78-70) at Pittsburgh (62-86) 1:35 p.m. EDT

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates have obviously welcomed the role of spoiler this September.

The last-place Pirates go for a series sweep of the fading St. Louis Cardinals when the teams meet on Sunday.

St. Louis, which has dropped four consecutive games, finds itself five games behind the also struggling Milwaukee Brewers (83-65) in the National League wild-card chase. The Brewers have lost five of six and see the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros gaining ground in the race.

The Cardinals send Brad Thompson (5-2, 4.61) to the mound in search of the Cardinals' second road win in their last 10 tries.

Thompson, who was schedule to start the series opener but was replaced by Joel Pineiro, will make his fifth start of the season. He is 2-1 in those starts, and owns a 5-2 record with a 4.61 ERA in 23 appearances on the year.

Pittsburgh counters with Jason Davis (1-4, 5.90) as they continue their pitching carousel. Davis is starting in place of Ian Snell, who was forced to fill in on Friday for Jeff Karstens because the righthander is still suffering from an abscessed tooth.

Davis will be making his fourth start of the season, posting an 0-2 in his previous three trips to the hill. The veteran righthander is 1-4 with a 5.90 ERA in 12 appearences this season.