Basketball Betting

Cards' Wainwright goes for win No. 18 in Washington

Baseball Betting Lines

08/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals co-ace Adam Wainwright will try to become the first 18-game winner in the National League when he takes the ball Sunday afternoon in the finale of a four-game series from Nationals Park.

Wainwright is 17-8 with a splendid 2.18 earned run average in 27 starts this season, but has dropped back-to-back outings after winning three straight trips to the mound. He has lasted seven innings in each of the setbacks and was previously in action during Tuesday's 4-3 loss at Pittsburgh. He gave up four runs and seven hits, while fanning six batters.

The right-hander is only 6-7 in 14 road starts as opposed to his 11-1 mark in 13 home appearances this season. Wainwright has pitched well in his career against the Nationals, going 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA in seven games (5 starts).

A win today by Wainwright would tie him with CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees for the major league lead.

St. Louis could use another solid performance from Wainwright in this series after it dropped a 14-5 decision on Saturday. Kyle Lohse started for the Cardinals and was touched for eight runs and 11 hits in five innings. Mike MacDougal permitted six runs in only 1 2/3 innings of relief.

"I feel good," Lohse noted on the team's site. "The ball's coming out good. The command within the strike zone just wasn't as good this time as last. The ball is moving, it's just moving in the wrong spot. I don't like to make excuses about that. You can't do those things. I feel physically fine."

Albert Pujols stroked an RBI ground-rule double and Jon Jay later followed with a two-run homer to give St. Louis a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The offense didn't do much from there and the Cardinals fell two games behind Philadelphia for the wild card lead. Cincinnati also lost on Saturday and remain four games ahead of the Cards for NL Central bragging rights.

Washington used a 16-9 advantage in hits to post its second win in three tries last night following a four-game slide. Starter Livan Hernandez took advantage of the hits and run support, and picked up the win even though he allowed five runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Adam Dunn hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs, while Roger Bernadina belted a two-run shot for the Nationals, who got four hits, two runs scored and an RBI out of Mike Morse.

"We needed a win. The bats came alive which is great," Morse said.

The Nationals hope John Lannan can bounce back from a recent loss when he takes the ball this afternoon. Lannan had a personal three-start winning streak halted with Tuesday's 5-4 loss versus the Chicago Cubs in DC. He permitted five runs -- four earned -- and seven hits in five innings.

Lannan, who is just 1-3 in nine home starts, fell to 5-6 with a 5.23 ERA in 19 starts this season. He is still in search of his first win against St. Louis as evidenced by his 0-2 mark in four career starts.

Washington halted a six-game losing streak in this series with Thursday's triumph. St. Louis has still prevailed in 14 of the last 18 meetings between the teams and swept a two-game set from the Nationals at Busch Stadium in May.