GatewayRedbirds.com

St. Louis(11-5) at Chicago(4-12)

April 23, 2012
8:05 PM ET, 7:05 PM CT, 6:05 PM MT, 5:05 PM PT
Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
TV: FSMW, CSN
RADIO: KMOX 1120

The St. Louis Cardinals' rotation has done an excellent job so far, which could be even more important with two big bats out of the lineup.

The Cardinals will try for a third straight win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Wrigley Field.

Led by a rotation boasting a 2.75 ERA, St. Louis is off to a promising start with one of the best records in the NL.

The Cardinals (11-5) took two of three from Pittsburgh over the weekend, bouncing back from Saturday's 2-0 loss with a 5-1 victory Sunday. Kyle Lohse pitched into the eighth inning and David Freese drove in two runs.

St. Louis has won all five of its series this season, also winning the season opener at Miami.

"That's what you try to do, you try to win series,'' Freese said. "You want to sweep, but that's obviously not going to happen all the time. Consistency, that's the name of this game, and we're doing that pretty well right now."

The success of the rotation has taken a lot of pressure off the lineup. While St. Louis leads the NL with a .281 batting average and is scoring 5.1 runs per game, it placed slugger Lance Berkman on the disabled list Friday and Jon Jay could join him soon. Jay is hitting .349 this season and Berkman .348.

Jay sprained his shoulder Thursday after running into the center-field wall. His only appearance over the weekend was as a pinch-runner Saturday. He was to fly back to St. Louis for tests and is not expected to play this series.

The Cardinals, who split six games at Wrigley Field last season, took two of three at home against the Cubs from April 13-15.

The Cardinals will hand the ball to Jaime Garcia (2-0, 3.06 ERA), who is coming off his strongest outing of the season. He allowed one run in seven innings of an 11-1 victory against the Reds on Wednesday.

It was the second time in three starts Garcia received eight runs of support. The left-hander led the NL with a 5.92 run-support average in 2011 while winning 13 games.

Garcia went 2-0 with a 2.11 ERA in three starts against the Cubs last season.

PITTSBURGH (AP) The way Kyle Lohse is pitching at the moment, the St. Louis right-hander doesn't need much run support to win.

The same goes for Pittsburgh's Erik Bedard.

Only Lohse, however, has the luxury of playing on the team with the National League's best offense. It made all the difference Sunday.

Lohse scattered six hits while pitching into the eighth inning to lead the Cardinals past the Pirates 5-1.

David Freese had a two-run single for the St. Louis and Rafael Furcal had three hits as the Cardinals extended their strong start behind another superb outing from Lohse (3-0), who struck out five without issuing a walk even though his ERA actually ticked up from 0.89 to 0.99.

''Man he's unreal,'' Freese said of Lohse. ''I've heard other guys say that when he hits his spots, he's one of the toughest in the game to string some hits together. And he's showing it, for sure.''

Lohse improved to 8-2 in his career against Pittsburgh, having his way with baseball's worst offense. His only mistake came in the eighth, when Mike McKenry led off with a double and scored on Casey McGehee's pinch-hit single to trim St. Louis' lead to 3-1.

Mitchell Boggs came on in relief and quickly shut the door. Nate McLouth flied to left and Boggs held onto Jose Tabata's sharp grounder back to the mound to start an inning-ending double play.

The Cardinals tacked on two runs in the ninth off Evan Meek for the final margin.

St. Louis made it 3-0 in the third when Furcal led off with a double and Tyler Greene walked. Bedard managed to get through Matt Holliday and Beltran and came within a strike of getting out of the jam before Freese lined a sharp single to right.

The hit ended a 1-for-25 funk by the Cardinals with runners in scoring position.

''I didn't even know it was that bad,'' Freese said. ''But you feel it a little. You definitely understand what's happening, what's been going on.''

The Cardinals have no such worries. The defending World Series champions are the National League's top offensive team despite losing slugger Albert Pujols in the offseason.

St. Louis has outscored its opponents by 36 runs through the season's first two weeks, the most in the NL and have won each of its first six series of the season.

''That's what you try to do, you try to win series,'' Freese said. ''You want to sweep, but that's obviously not going to happen all the time. Consistency, that's the name of this game, and we're doing that pretty well right now.''

NOTES: St. Louis CF John Jay will fly back to St. Louis to have his sprained right shoulder re-examined. ... The Pirates open a three-game series with Colorado on Monday. Kevin Correia (1-0, 1.50 ERA), who was scratched from his usual start on Saturday due to pain in his side, will start for Pittsburgh against Colorado's Jamie Moyer (1-2, 2.55 ERA). ... The Cardinals begin a three-game series in Chicago on Monday. Jaime Garcia (2-0, 3.06 ERA) will face Matt Garza (1-1, 3.66).

Hungary Jack wrote:The Cubs absolutely suck. But it wouldn't surprise me if they take 2 of 3. They seem to give the Cardinals fits lately.

ThatGuy wrote:I think we all expected the Cubs to suck, but it's awesome that they're already 7 games back. Let's go for double digits!