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(Sports Network) - With their playoff chances becoming more uncertain, the St. Louis Cardinals turn to the ace of their pitching staff when the struggling club plays the middle contest of a crucial three-game series with the National League West-leading San Diego Padres tonight at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis owned a 6 1/2-game cushion atop the NL Central less than a week ago, but the margin has dwindled down to 2 1/2 during the team's current six game losing streak. The Cardinals let second-place Houston back in the division race by losing all four games to the Astros over the weekend.
Houston picked up another game on St. Louis on Monday after the Cardinals dropped a 6-5 decision to the Padres and the Astros edged Philadelphia.
Mike Piazza singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as San Diego widened its lead in the NL West with last night's win. The Padres moved their advantage to two games on the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were idle Monday.
Brian Giles went 2-for-3 with three RBI and scored once for the Padres, who won for the fifth straight time. Scott Cassidy (6-4) notched the win after throwing a scoreless sixth inning, while Scott Linebrink closed things out in the ninth to pick up his second save.
San Diego was originally slated to start David Wells, but scratched the veteran left-hander Monday afternoon because of gout in his right foot. Rookie Mike Thompson filled in and allowed five runs - four earned - on eight hits with one strikeout in 3 1/3 innings.
Jim Edmonds belted a pinch-hit three-run homer for the Cardinals in his first game action in a month. The standout center fielder had been sidelined since August 26 with post-concussive syndrome. Chris Duncan also went deep in the loss.
St. Louis hopes to get back on track tonight behind 2005 NL Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter. The star right-hander wasn't sharp his last time out, however, as he yielded six runs over eight innings to suffer the loss in Houston last Thursday.
Carpenter had allowed just one run in 16 innings during back-to-back winning efforts over Houston and San Francisco prior to his most recent outing. He had won five consecutive decisions as well.
The 31-year-old is 2-1 with a 2.89 earned run average in four career starts against San Diego. Carpenter hasn't faced the Padres yet this season.
San Diego goes with former Cardinal Woody Williams, who has put together three straight outstanding efforts. The 40-year-old is 3-0 with a sparkling 1.02 ERA over that span, yielding just two earned runs over 17 2/3 innings of work.
Williams extended his personal winning streak with 5 2/3 strong innings Thursday against Arizona. He gave up one unearned run and five hits while walking just one.
The veteran right-hander, who pitched for St. Louis from 2001-04, has lost both career starts against his former club and pitched to a cumulative 6.00 ERA in those games.
San Diego took two of three from the Cardinals at Petco Park earlier this season and has won eight of the last 12 meetings between the clubs.
