St. Louis @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 20, 2010 ) St. Louis 7, Arizona 9

Ryan Ludwick has found a home. The St. Louis Cardinals' right fielder struggled early this season while batting sixth in the lineup, hitting .176 with two RBIs in the team's first four games. Since being moved up to the second in the order – hitting in front of Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday instead of behind them – Ludwick has taken off. In the nine games since manager Tony LaRussa made the change, Ludwick is hitting .417 with three home runs and six RBIs. It all came together in the second game of the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who play the Cardinals in a rubber game Wednesday at Chase Field before moving on to face the San Francisco Giants. Ludwick went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBIs with the long balls coming against All-Star right-hander Dan Haren. Overall, the 31-year-old Ludwick is batting .333 (18-for-54) with three home runs, nine runs and eight RBIs. Those numbers are more in line with his 2008 All-Star campaign when Ludwick hit .299 with 37 home runs and 117 RBIs than his 2009s season, when he posted numbers of .265, 22 and 97, respectively. Ludwick will try and keep it rolling Wednesday against Arizona's Edwin Jackson (1-1, 3.50 ERA). Jackson, who threw six shutout innings in his last outing against the San Diego Padres, will take mound opposite of Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter (2-0, 3.50 ERA). Carpenter is also coming off his best start of the season after tossing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts against the New York Mets. The Diamondbacks take the field with a renewed confidence after ending a five-game skid on Tuesday with a 9-7 win. Arizona, which is 5-3 at home and 1-5 on the road, had the bullpen come together behind Juan Gutierrez’s two scoreless innings and closer Chad Qualls 1-2-3 ninth inning. The Diamondbacks' slugging third baseman Mark Reynolds revealed after the game has been dealing with a leg injury since spring training. While he didn’t elaborate on the specifics of the injury, it was evident it hasn’t limited his enormous power. Reynolds is 6-for-10 with two home runs and seven RBIs over his last three games. If the injury should worsen and he misses any time with catcher Miguel Montero and left fielder Conor Jackson already on the disabled list, it would be a huge blow.