Sat May 17 10:59:21 2008

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Red-hot Rays resume interleague set in St. Louis

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(Sports Network) - The surprising leaders in the American League East, the Tampa Bay Rays play the middle game of a three-game set versus the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium this afternoon.

Thanks to a 3-1 victory in the series opener last night, the Rays have won two in a row and eight of their last nine, giving themselves a 1 1/2 game lead in the division over the slumping Boston Red Sox. The triumph was also the first ever for the club over the Cardinals, with St. Louis having swept a three-game set at Tropicana Field back in 2005.

Akinori Iwamura finished with three hits, an RBI and a run scored in the win on Friday. Starting pitcher Andy Sonnanstine posted a pair of hits and a run knocked in as well as he moved to 6-1 on the season. Sonnanstine also surrendered just a single run on eight hits, while striking out four over the course of eight innings. Troy Percival earned his 11th save of the campaign with a perfect ninth.

St. Louis hurler Braden Looper suffered the loss, dropping him to 5-3 on the season. Looper gave up three earned runs on 10 hits over six innings. The lone run for the Cardinals, who are currently third in the National League Central standings with a mark of 24-20, came courtesy of a solo home run by Chris Duncan.

Righthander Matt Garza gets the call to the mound this afternoon for the Rays, his first-ever appearance versus St. Louis. The Fresno State product has steadily brought his ERA down from a high of 9.00 back in April to where it now stands at 3.86 through six appearances.

Garza last pitched on Monday when he held the New York Yankees scoreless over a season-high seven innings, permitting just five hits and striking out three in the 7-1 home win.

As for the Cardinals, they hand the ball to Adam Wainwright for today's meeting. The righthander, who is getting his first-ever look at Tampa Bay, hadn't allowed more than three earned runs in any one of his previous five outings, but on Monday he was touched for six on eight hits, over six innings, by Milwaukee in an 8-3 road loss.

In his first six games of the season Wainwright averaged 5 1/2 strikeouts per game, but in the last two he has totaled just six.

Heading into the weekend Tampa Bay pitchers have allowed opponents to hit just .240 this season, the second-best mark in the AL. Consequently, the Rays staff is fourth in the league in team ERA at 3.58.

On the other side of the ledger, the Cardinals have the fifth-best ERA in the National League (3.96), with the bullpen leading the NL with 16 saves already.

The Cardinals are 84-77 all-time in interleague play, while the Rays are just 75-104 versus the National League.