Colorado @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 4, 2012 ) Colorado 1, St. Louis 4

Led by hot-hitting Matt Holliday, the Cardinals will try to take three of four from visiting Colorado as the teams face off in Thursday's finale. Holliday went 3-for-4 with an RBI double in Wednesday’s 4-1 win, and is hitting .533 (24-for-45) with 11 RBIs over his last 12 games. He’s hit safely in 11 of those games.

Third baseman David Freese, who'll find out Thursday if he was voted into the All-Star Game, had a two-run single Wednesday to give him 50 RBIs. Freese's addition would give St. Louis five All-Stars.

Colorado has lost four of five, scoring just 11 runs in the skid. The Rockies are 13-25 on the road.

TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, ROOT, FS-M

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies LH Christian Friedrich (4-5, 5.52 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Lance Lynn (10-4, 3.62 ERA)

A sore right calf pushed Friedrich’s start back two days. He was sharp last time out, allowing one run on five hits in five innings against San Diego. Freiedrich is 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA on the road this season. Opposing hitters are batting .313 against him and he has yielded eight homers in his last five starts, three of those coming at Coors Field.

Lynn has given up five or more runs in his last three starts - raising his ERA from 2.80 to 3.62 - and he has served up four homers in his last two outings. For the season, however, batters are hitting .239 against him. He has never faced the Rockies.

WALK-OFFS:

1. Rockies All-Star OF Carlos Gonzalez has a 12-game hitting streak.

2. Cards LHP Jaime Garcia, who played catch Wednesday for the first time since being shut down last month with a shoulder injury, hopes to return to the rotation by mid-August.

3. Cards CF Jon Jay has drawn four walks and scored four runs in this series.