St. Louis @ Colorado preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 20, 2016 ) St. Louis 10, Colorado 5

The St. Louis Cardinals are surging at the right time, and they look to complete a three-game sweep when they visit the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday afternoon for the finale of their series. St. Louis extended its winning streak to four games with Tuesday's 10-5 victory and forged a three-way tie with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants for the two wild-card spots in the National League.

Adam Wainwright notched the win despite giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings but made up for it at the plate by going 2-for-2 with four RBIs as the Cardinals improved to 4-2 on their nine-game road trip. Jedd Gyorko and Matt Adams homered while Randal Grichuk went 3-for-4 with an RBI and four runs scored for St. Louis, which concludes its trek with a three-game series against the major league-leading Chicago Cubs that begins on Friday. Charlie Blackmon, Gerardo Parra and Daniel Descalso each went deep as Colorado fell to 3-2 on its six-game homestand. Descalso collected three hits for the Rockies and DJ LeMahieu, who leads the majors with a .349 average, went 1-for-3 to extend his on-base streak to 36 games.

TV: 3:10 p.m. ET, FSN Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Luke Weaver (1-3, 3.21 ERA) vs. Rockies RH German Marquez (0-0, 5.06)

Weaver is looking to bounce back from the shortest start of his brief major-league career, a loss at San Francisco on Friday in which he lasted only 2 2/3 innings. The 23-year-old Floridian, who is 0-2 in his last four turns, surrendered six runs - although all were unearned - after giving up the same amount over his previous three outings. Weaver is 0-3 with a 4.15 ERA in five road starts this season but never has faced Colorado.

Marquez will be making his first start after beginning his major-league career with three appearances out of the bullpen. The 21-year-old Venezuelan turned in a pair of scoreless relief efforts spanning three innings after yielding three runs over 2 1/3 frames in his debut on Sept. 8 at San Diego. Marquez made a total of 26 starts between Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque this season, posting an 11-6 record with a 3.13 ERA.

WALK-OFFS

1. Blackmon has recorded a franchise-record 75 RBIs from the leadoff spot, eclipsing the mark set in 1996 by Eric Young.

2. Grichuk has hit safely in seven of his last eight games, going 10-for-28 in that span.

3. Colorado third-base coach Stu Cole was hit in the head by a ball during batting practice on Tuesday and was taken to the hospital but released after tests were negative.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 7, Rockies 5