St. Louis @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 10, 2015 ) St. Louis 0, Cincinnati 11

The Cincinnati Reds may be buried in last place in the National League Central but have made life difficult for the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals over the second half of the season. The Reds have won four of their last six meetings against the visiting Cardinals, who look to rebound from their worst shutout loss since August 2012 when the teams resume their four-game series Friday.

Thursday's 11-0 beating was the sixth defeat in eight games for St. Louis, which maintained its 4 1/2-game lead over Pittsburgh atop the NL Central. A more alarming issue for the Cardinals is the ineffectiveness of their pitching staff, which has surrendering 38 runs during a 1-4 stretch. Cincinnati third baseman Todd Frazier appears to have snapped out of his funk with two homers and five RBIs in the last two games following a 3-for-28 slump over the previous seven contests. Brandon Phillips is batting .389 with two home runs and seven RBIs in nine September games after homering and driving in three runs in the series opener.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), FSN Ohio (Cincinnati)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH John Lackey (11-9, 2.90 ERA) vs. Reds RH Michael Lorenzen (4-8, 5.54)

Lackey took the loss against Pittsburgh last time out after giving up three runs on 10 hits over 7 1/3 innings - the 16th consecutive in which he has pitched at least six frames. Despite recording a quality start in seven of his last eight turns, the 36-year-old Lackey is only 2-4 in that span. Two of those setbacks came in back-to-back starts against the Reds despite Lackey allowing four runs and eight hits in 14 innings.

Lorenzen finally put an end to a six-game losing streak and earned his first victory since June 21 by holding Milwaukee to two runs and eight hits over 5 1/3 innings on Sunday. That ended an ugly six-start during which the 23-year-old Lorenzen went 0-4 and was knocked around for 32 runs in a span of 24 innings. Lorenzen made his lone career start versus St. Louis on Aug. 6 and took the loss with five innings of three-run ball.

WALK-OFFS

1. Frazier's three RBIs on Thursday established a career high with 83.

2. St. Louis 1B Matt Adams singled as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning in his first appearance afer missing 91 games (quad).

3. Reds 1B Joey Votto has reached base in 29 straight games.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 5, Reds 3