Milwaukee @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 16, 2014 ) Milwaukee 3, St. Louis 2

Adam Wainwright may not have pitched up to his usual standards this season, but he can join Clayton Kershaw as the only 19-game winners in the majors when he and the St. Louis Cardinals face the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday in the second contest of their three-game set. The Cardinals will be looking for their ace to play the role of stopper after blowing a ninth-inning lead in Tuesday's series opener. St. Louis leads Pittsburgh by 2 1/2 games and Milwaukee by four in the National League Central.

The Brewers may have saved their season by squeezing out a 3-2 win Tuesday, getting a tying sacrifice fly from Matt Clark in the ninth inning before Hector Gomez delivered the go-ahead bloop single in the 12th. "You know something? We deserved a bloop," Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said. "They (the Cardinals) get bloops to hurt us all the time." It was the fifth win in six games for the Brewers and got their rugged nine-game road trip off to a successful start.

TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN, FSN Wisconsin (Milwaukee), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Brewers RH Mike Fiers (6-2, 1.84 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Adam Wainwright (18-9, 2.56)

One of the few bright spots during Milwaukee's slide has been the performance of Fiers, who is 6-1 with a sparkling 1.74 ERA in seven starts since being recalled from the minors. Fiers wound up pitching five scoreless innings for the win versus the Marlins after yielding two runs over 6 2/3 frames to beat St. Louis in his previous outing. Fiers is 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA in five career appearances (three starts) against the Cardinals.

Wainwright labored throughout August, going 2-4 in six turns and allowed fewer than three runs only once, but he has rebounded to win three straight starts. He earned the victory despite surrendering three homers against Pittsburgh on Sept. 2 and has followed that up with a pair of stellar performances, yielding two runs over 17 innings. He must be wary of Aramis Ramirez, who is batting .411 with three homers in 56 at-bats against him.

WALK-OFFS

1. Fiers is making his first start since hitting Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton in the face with a pitch on Thursday.

2. Cardinals RHP Trevor Rosenthal blew his sixth save in 50 chances Tuesday.

3. Clark is riding a four-game RBI streak during which he has driven in seven runs.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 4, Brewers 1