Colorado @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 30, 2015 ) Colorado 8, St. Louis 9

The St. Louis Cardinals are going to need some offense with seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday (quad strain) expected to be sidelined for an extended period of time. After seeing their bats come alive in the opener, the Cardinals will look to feed off that momentum when they continue their four-game series against the visiting Colorado Rockies on Friday.

Struggling Matt Carpenter belted two homers among his four hits and drove in four runs and scored four times in Thursday's 9-8 victory. The power display certainly was a welcome one for Carpenter, who was batting .180 (16-for-89) in the month prior to the uprising. St. Louis, which improved to 24-10 in its last 34 meetings with Colorado, upped its mark to 38-15 at Busch Stadium this season while the Rockies fell for the 17th time in its last 22 road contests. Colorado hasn't been shy about flexing its offensive muscle, scoring a staggering 58 runs while going just 3-5 in the last eight contests.

TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, ROOT (Colorado), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Kyle Kendrick (4-11, 6.33 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (11-4, 3.27)

Kendrick allowed six runs for the second straight outing but walked away with a victory after Colorado erupted for 17 runs in a rout of Cincinnati on Sunday. The 30-year-old has struggled mightily in his first season with the Rockies, but owns a 6-3 mark with a 3.53 ERA in 12 career appearances versus St. Louis. Kendrick picked up the win in his last meeting with the Cardinals, yielding four runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Wacha suffered his first loss in over one month on Sunday despite allowing just three runs on five hits in six innings of a 3-2 setback to Atlanta. The 24-year-old has struggled with the long ball of late, yielding four homers in his last four starts after surrendering just six in his previous 15. Wacha needs to keep a keen eye on Colorado's DJ LeMahieu, who has recorded a trio of three-hit performances in his last four outings while going 3-for-7 in his career versus the hurler.

WALK-OFFS

1. St. Louis rookie Stephen Piscotty will likely take over as the primary left fielder in Holliday's absence while the team also added depth with the acquisition of OF Brandon Moss from Cleveland on Thursday.

2. Colorado OF Carlos Gonzalez is 17-for-37 with eight homers, 16 RBIs and 14 runs scored in his last nine contests.

3. Cardinals OF Kolten Wong is 11-for-32 in his last eight games.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 4, Rockies 1