The St. Louis Cardinals picked a bad time to start losing games, with their most recent 8-1 loss to the Nationals cutting their wildcard lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates to only half a game. They'll face a tough pitching matchup in the second game of their four-game set against the Nationals on Friday.
Adam Wainwright (13-10, 3.63 ERA) will head to the mound for the Cards to take on Gio Gonzalez (16-7, 3.28 ERA) in a battle between two of the top pitchers in the league this season. Gonzalez is a Cy Young candidate with high marks in the NL in wins and strikeouts.
Wainwright will need to be at his best to help the Cards snap their three game losing streak, especially with the offense taking a blow after the Cards lost Rafael Furcal during Thursday's game, possibly for quite a while if the fears of a UCL tear are correct.
The game will be at Nationals Park at 6:05 p.m. CT.
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