VENUE: Busch Stadium
As the Milwaukee Brewers regress, the St. Louis Cardinals continue to surge.
The Cardinals look for a fourth straight victory Sunday night to sweep their first three-game home series from the Brewers in more than seven years.
Colby Rasmus singled home the winning run in the 11th inning to give St. Louis (33-23) a 5-4 win over Milwaukee on Saturday.
Winners in seven of nine, the Cardinals won the first two games of this set after dropping its last four home games against the Brewers (22-34), who will look to avoid losing four in a row and seven of eight.
St. Louis, which has won five of 18 against the Brewers at Busch Stadium, is in position to record its first three-game home sweep of Milwaukee since March 31-April 3, 2003.
That's possible thanks greatly to Rasmus, who is 5 for 7 with five RBIs in the series and 10 for 20 with eight RBIs in his last five games overall.
"I was trying to give them all I had," Rasmus said after finishing Saturday with three hits and three RBIs.
Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer for his 13th of the season and first at Busch Stadium in 93 at-bats, dating to the season opener. He has three homers and 10 RBIs in five games against Milwaukee this season.
While the Cardinals look to continue their recent success, they could be without shortstop Brendan Ryan (groin injury) for a second straight game. The status of third baseman David Freese also is uncertain after he left Saturday's contest with an ankle injury. Freese is hitting .316 this season.
St. Louis will face its third straight left-hander in the series when Manny Parra (1-3, 4.06 ERA) takes the ball for the Brewers.
Making his third start of the season, Parra gets the nod over the struggling Dave Bush despite allowing three runs in three innings of an 8-6 win over the New York Mets on May 29 in his most recent outing.
"For me, my game is commanding my fastball," Parra told the Brewers' official website. "I do that and I'll be just fine. But the days like (last Saturday) where I'm out of sync and struggling with the fastball command, it's going to make for a tough day."
Parra has pitched well in 10 starts against the Cardinals, going 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA.
The Cardinals turn to rookie Jaime Garcia (5-2, 1.32 ERA), who looks to continue his stellar season with a third straight victory Sunday.
After not allowing a run in 11 innings while not factoring in the decision of his previous two outings, the left-hander earned a victory Monday after giving up three and striking out six in six innings of a 12-4 win over Cincinnati.
Garcia won his lone career start against the Brewers, surrendering a run and four hits in six innings of a 7-1 victory at Milwaukee in his season debut April 10.
"They are one of the better teams against left-hand pitching and he was outstanding against them," manager Tony La Russa said of Garcia's last effort against the Brewers.
Milwaukee All-Stars Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder are a combined 2 for 16 in this series and are each 0 for 4 versus Garcia.
