On Tuesday night the St. Louis Cardinals took a close game and turned it into a route knocking off the D-Backs. Matt Holliday and Jon Jay homered and Allen Craig and Skip Schumacher each had two hits as the Cardinals scored eight runs on nine hits. On the mound starter Joe Kelly allowed six hits and two earned runs while striking out six over 6.1 innings of work to go to 3-5 on the year. For Wednesday’s game St. Louis starts Adam Wainwright who has won his last three decisions. For the season Wainwright has allowed 142 hits and 63 earned runs while striking out 137 over 145.1 innings of work for a 3.90 ERA.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are falling out of the race for the post season and their performance on Tuesday didn’t help. Justin Upton had two hits, Miguel Montero hit a home run, and Jason Kubel had a hit as the Diamondbacks scored two runs on seven hits. Diamondbacks starter Ian Kennedy allowed six hits and five runs, three of them earned, while striking out five over six innings to fall to 10-10 on the year. For Wednesday’s game Arizona starts Joe Saunders who won in his last outing. For the season Saunders has allowed 127 hits and 47 earned runs while striking out 82 over 120.1 innings of work for a 3.52 ERA.

St. Louis is 6-1 in their last seven home games against a left handed starter, 5-2 in their last seven game two of a series, and 4-0 in Wainwright’s last four starts as a home favorite. Arizona is 5-3 in their last eight games as a road underdog, 5-3 in their last eight games against the NL Central, and 1-7 in Saunders’ last eight games as an underdog. Arizona is 0-6 in the last six meetings of these two.

Wainwright seems to have regained his form making him awfully tough and the Diamondbacks may have blown their best chance at a win in this series by losing to Kelly on Tuesday.