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The St. Louis Cardinals (17-11) have lost three of their last four games, but hope to take advantage of a scuffling Arizona Diamondbacks (14-15) that has lost four of their last five.
Over the last week, the Cardinals have scored 39 runs -- good for third-best in the MLB, tied with the Colorado Rockies -- but their pitchers have a 4.85 ERA -- ninth-worst in the MLB. Both their pitching and hitting went cold from Thursday through Saturday as they lost three straight, but they broke out to win 8-1 on Sunday. The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, have had a 3.92 ERA and scored only 28 runs with an impressive 3.32 ERA.
If the Cardinals hope to build another winning streak on Monday, they will likely need continued excellence from RF Carlos Beltran, who has hit .389/.476/.722 with 2 homers over the past week.
Game Time: 8:40 p.m. CDT
Location: Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
Broadcast: FSMW-HD (TV), KMOX (radio)
For more news and updates from around the MLB, drop by Baseball Nation with Rob Neyer, or dig deeper into the stats at Beyond the Box Score. Also, check out the team blogs Viva El Birdos and AZ Snake Pit.