St. Louis @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 24, 2019 ) St. Louis 2, Arizona 3

Paul Goldschmidt is making sure his former organization remembers him by slugging homers in each of his first two games back at Chase Field . Goldschmidt will look to go deep again on Wednesday, when the St. Louis Cardinals visit the Arizona Diamondbacks in the finale of their three-game series.

Goldschmidt has belted 33 homers in his first season with the Cardinals after hitting 209 in eight seasons with the Diamondbacks prior to being traded last offseason. His latest blast came in the 13th inning on Tuesday, but St. Louis eventually succumbed 3-2 in 19 innings to see its six-game winning streak end and its lead over Milwaukee in the National League Central slip to 2 1/2 games with four to play. Ildemaro Vargas hit a game-tying pinch-hit homer in the ninth and drilled the game-winning single in the 19th to cap a 4-for-6 performance as the Diamondbacks prevailed one night after being eliminated from the NL wild-card race. "It's worth it, we got this one," Arizona shortstop Nick Ahmed said in a postgame television interview of playing for 6 hours, 53 minutes. "We did everything we needed to do. We would like it to go nine innings instead of 19, but we got it done."

TV: 3:40 p.m. ET, YouTube

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (6-7, 4.68 ERA) vs. Diamondbacks RH Merrill Kelly (12-14, 4.31)

Wacha is looking for his first victory since earning one in relief against Cincinnati on July 19. The 28-year-old settled for a no-decision against the Chicago Cubs on Friday after giving up one run and five hits over four innings. Wacha is 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA in six career starts against Arizona.

Kelly is coming off back-to-back victories in which he allowed three hits against the Reds and two versus San Diego while tossing seven scoreless innings in each. The 30-year-old has produced three scoreless efforts this month as he also held the Padres to three hits over seven frames in a victory on Sept. 3. Kelly lost to the Cardinals on July 13, when he gave up four runs - one earned - and five hits over five innings in his lone career start against the club.

WALK-OFFS

1. The teams matched the combined single-game record of 48 strikeouts - the Cardinals had 25 - established by the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees in an 18-inning contest on May 7, 2017.

2. Arizona CF Jarrod Dyson was hitless in seven at-bats on Tuesday and is just 4-for-45 this month.

3. St. Louis OF Dexter Fowler opened Tuesday's game with his 26th career leadoff homer before fanning in five of his ensuing seven at-bats and is 1-for-13 with nine strikeouts in the series.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 5, Diamondbacks 4