The surging St. Louis Cardinals will be the third team to visit historic Wrigley Field in three days as they aim for a seventh straight victory in the opener of a two-game set with the Chicago Cubs.
The Cardinals come into this series on their longest winning streak of the season as well as winners in seven in a row on the road, where they are 13-6 this season. St. Louis completed its first ever four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers with Sunday's 10-1 win.
Allen Craig drove in four runs and Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer and drove in three for the Cards, who scored 29 runs in the series.
"That's hard to do," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said of the four-game sweep. "Proud of how the guys played. We were excited to come in and do the job well. I think it was just a little bit of everything."
Jaime Garcia eased through eight frames, giving up one run on eight hits with a walk and three strikeouts to earn in his fourth victory of the year.
Tonight's opener will mark the first time since Aug. 21-23, 1960 that the Cubs will host three different teams over three straight days. They wrapped a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday with a fourth straight loss, then prevailed 9-2 over the Texas Rangers on Monday in a makeup contest from an April 17 rainout.
Scott Feldman tossed a gem against his former club, holding the Rangers to two hits over seven scoreless innings. He also had an RBI single during a five- run fourth inning and has a 1.63 earned run average over his last four starts.
"He was really, really good again," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said of Feldman, who was coming off his first career complete game.
Anthony Rizzo had three hits, including a homer, and drove in four runs, while Luis Valbuena also went 3-for-4. Starlin Castro drove in a pair of runs and scored three times.
Lance Lynn takes the mound for the Cardinals looking to become the first NL pitcher to reach six wins this season. The righty is currently tied for the league lead with Washington Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, who is also scheduled to pitch on Tuesday.
Boston's Clay Buchholz is the lone six-game winner so far in the majors.
Lynn has won his past 10 regular-season decisions dating back to last season, including each of his last five starts since allowing four runs over four innings of a no-decision in his season debut on April 3. He has given up seven runs over his current five-start win streak while logging seven innings in three straight outings.
The 25-year-old defeated the Reds on Wednesday, yielding a run on five hits with two walks to lower his season ERA to 2.75.
"To be able to go out there and pitch like that and win games, that's what it's all about," said Lynn. "It feels good. I just have to keep trying to improve everyday, and that's what I'm going to do."
Lynn is perfect in his career versus the Cubs, posting a 4-0 mark and 2.73 ERA in five meetings (4 starts).
Cubs left-hander Travis Wood brings an impressive 2.50 ERA in six starts into tonight's meeting, but is just 2-2 on the season.
Wood retired the first 14 batters he faced on Thursday against the San Diego Padres, but ended up allowing three runs on four hits over a season-high 7 2/3 innings of a 4-2 setback.
The 26-year-old has lasted at least six innings in all of his starts this season and is 2-2 in his career versus the Cardinals with a 5.35 ERA in six meetings.
The Cardinals were 10-7 versus the Cubs last season, winning seven of the final 10 meetings, but lost five of nine in Chicago.
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