Wainwright, Cards try for big series win over Brewers

(SportsNetwork.com) - Adam Wainwright shoots for his 17th win of the season and the St. Louis Cardinals target a series victory Sunday over the Milwaukee Brewers in the finale of a four-game series at Miller Park.

Wainwright is 16-9 with a 2.69 earned run average and had lost three of four starts until defeating Pittsburgh in Tuesday's 6-4 triumph at Busch Stadium. Wainwright wasn't his typical dominant self and allowed four runs in six innings.

The right-hander is 9-6 in 16 road starts and has faced Milwaukee 28 times (21 starts) in his career, going 10-7 with a 2.52 ERA.

St. Louis managed a 5-3 win on Saturday over the Brewers, as Matt Adams and Oscar Taveras each belted a two-run homer. Kolten Wong drove in the other run and Lance Lynn won his fourth straight decision, charged with three runs -- one earned -- on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts over six innings of work for the NL Central-leading Cardinals, who have won seven of their last eight games.

"This time of year you want to win every game," said Lynn. "You cold be playing someone else and when they lose it's a big win. We wanted to come in here and get a split no matter what, so this was a big win for us."

St. Louis is four games ahead of Milwaukee and 4 1/2 in front of Pittsburgh for the Central lead, and will visit Cincinnati next for four games.

After the Brewers halted a nine-game losing streak with Friday's win, they fell back into the loss column on Saturday.

Kyle Lohse was dealt the loss and allowed five runs in four innings. Ryan Braun and Lyle Overbay had an RBI apiece for Milwaukee, which sits even with Atlanta for the second wild card berth.

"I put us in a hole and we kept battling back, but just didn't come through today," said Lohse. "We only have 20 games left and we look at it as a game we have tomorrow and do the best we can."

The Brewers will also welcome Miami and Cincinnati to town on this homestand.

Taking the ball for Milwaukee Sunday will be Jimmy Nelson, who is 2-6 with a 4.14 ERA. He has lost three straight trips to the mound and is winless (0-4) in his last five outings. Nelson is 1-4 in six home starts and lost his only career appearance against St. Louis on July 12 in a 10-2 setback. He allowed eight runs -- six earned -- across 4 1/3 innings in that one.

The Cardinals are 9-6 against the Brewers this season.