St. Louis @ Toronto preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 23, 2010 ) St. Louis 1, Toronto 0

If the Toronto Blue Jays hope to avoid a home sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, they may want to be a little more cautious with Matt Holliday.

The Cardinals outfielder brings a ridiculous hot streak into Thursday's series finale at the Rogers Centre. St. Louis opened the three-game set with a 9-4 victory Tuesday, and scored in the ninth inning Wednesday to escape with a 1-0 victory.

Holliday was pivotal in both victories. He had three hits – including a two-run homer – and scored twice in the opener, and his ninth-inning single off Jays closer Kevin Gregg brought home Randy Winn with the lone run in Wednesday's game.

The 6-foot-4 masher has been red-hot of late. Wednesday's two-hit effort marked the first time in five games Holliday didn't hit a homer, and he has 13 hits in his previous 22 at-bats to vault his batting average from .284 all the way up to .309 – the highest it's been since June 2.

The Blue Jays will send right-hander Brandon Morrow (4-5) to the hill as they look to end a three-game losing streak. Morrow was solid in his previous outing, allowing two runs over six innings as the Jays beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2. He walked three and struck out four.

Morrow has allowed three runs or fewer in each of his previous five starts, but has just one victory over that span. Yet, while the victories have been hard to come by, Morrow's ERA has dropped significantly, down to 4.97 from a high-water mark of 6.80 back on May 21.

He has never faced Holliday, or the rest of the Cardinals, for that matter. But the erratic righty will need to be sharp against a St. Louis team that sits fourth in the National League in walks. Leading the way is slugger Albert Pujols, who has walked an NL-high 53 times so far this season.

Toronto's free-swinging hitters have a different concern altogether, as they face towering Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright (10-4). The 28-year-old, coming off a 19-win season in 2009, is among the league leaders in victories, ERA (2.23) and strikeouts (101). That bodes well for the 6-foot-7 Georgia native, who faces a Jays lineup that leads the American League in strikeouts.

Wainwright was a force in his previous outing, surrendering just one run on five hits over eight innings en route to a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners. He has gone at least six innings in every start this season, and his three complete games leave him tied for second-most in the NL.

Wainwright has never faced the Blue Jays, who are probably still recovering from a masterful pitching performance from Chris Carpenter a night earlier. The ex-Toronto hurler surrendered just three hits over eight scoreless innings to run his record to 9-1. In 17 career innings against his former team, Carpenter has allowed zero runs on four hits while striking out 17.