St. Louis @ Colorado preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 25, 2018 ) St. Louis 1, Colorado 9

The St. Louis Cardinals have been baseball's best team by a wide margin for the majority of August, but their red-hot ways came to an emphatic halt in one of their worst losses of the season on Saturday. The Cardinals look to make up for a rare poor performance and secure a ninth straight series victory Sunday, when they visit the Colorado Rockies for the rubber match of their three-game set.

St. Louis entered Saturday with an 18-4 record this month behind the National League's best pitching staff (2.57 ERA), but Colorado laid waste to it by exploding for eight runs in the eighth inning of a 9-1 rout. The defeat was the first in 10 road games for the Cardinals (72-58), who fell four games behind the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central and saw their lead for the first wild-card spot shrink to one-half game. Colorado has been on a roll for nearly two months, posting an NL-best 33-16 record since June 28 while also winning 19 of its last 26 contests at Coors Field. Nolan Arenado continues to haunt St. Louis, as the four-time All-Star is batting .400 against the club this season after going 2-for-3 with an RBI on Saturday.

TV: 3:10 p.m. ET, FS Midwest (St. Louis), AT&T SportsNet-Rocky Mountain (Colorado)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals LH Austin Gomber (3-0, 2.98 ERA) vs. Rockies LH Tyler Anderson (6-6, 4.45)

Gomber fell short of notching a third win in as many starts Monday in Los Angeles, settling for a no-decision against the Dodgers after yielding two runs on five hits and four walks over five innings. The Florida Atlantic product held the opposition scoreless in 11 frames over his previous two outings, but he has issued 23 walks in his first 42 1/3 innings in the majors. Gomber's last relief appearance before joining the rotation on Aug. 4 came three days earlier, when he worked a scoreless frame against Colorado.

Anderson lost his second consecutive start despite registering eight strikeouts against San Diego on Tuesday, giving up four runs and 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. The native of Las Vegas was pummeled for a career-high nine runs and seven hits - all for extra bases - in his previous turn at Houston on Aug. 15 and has surrendered five homers over his last two outings. Matt Carpenter (4-for-7) and Jedd Gyorko (3-for-5, home run) have fared well versus Anderson, who settled for a no-decision after permitting three runs in six frames at St. Louis on July 30.

WALK-OFFS

1. Saturday's setback was the Cardinals' first by more than one run since a 6-3 loss to Colorado on July 31.

2. Rockies OF Matt Holliday connected on a pinch-hit home run - his first with the club since 2008.

3. St. Louis has not had a left-hander win a game at Coors Field since 1999.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 5, Rockies 3