San Francisco @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 17, 2015 ) San Francisco 1, St. Louis 2

The St. Louis Cardinals own the best record in the majors and can clinch their sixth consecutive series win with a victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants on Tuesday in the second contest of their three-game set. The Cardinals squeezed out a 2-1 win on Monday to improve to 45-18 at home and extend their lead over second-place Pittsburgh in the National League Central to six games.

Rookie Stephen Piscotty is 6-for-12 with a homer, triple, two doubles and five runs scored over his last three games, including the decisive tally in the series opener. Yadier Molina homered for the first time since June 19 as St. Louis snapped the Giants' four-game winning streak and dropped them three games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Brandon Crawford recorded an RBI double among his two hits for San Francisco on Monday to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Ryan Vogelsong will start for the Giants in place of Mike Leake, who was slated to come off the 15-day disabled list to make his second start for San Francisco opposite Lance Lynn.

TV: 8:15 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (San Francisco), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Ryan Vogelsong (8-8, 4.15 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Lance Lynn (9-7, 2.95)

Vogelsong was named the starter after Monday's loss as San Francisco elected to give the injured Leake (hamstring) extra time to recover. The 38-year-old Vogelsong won his last outing on Thursday, when he held Washington to one run on three hits and four walks over five innings. The native of North Carolina has not fared well against St. Louis in his career, going 2-6 with a 6.17 ERA in 19 games (nine starts).

Lynn is coming off the shortest start of his career, recording only two outs while getting pounded for seven runs (three earned) and six hits in a loss to Pittsburgh on Thursday. He won his previous outing, scattering six hits over six scoreless innings at Milwaukee. Lynn is 6-3 with a 2.50 ERA at home this season, but he has lost all three of his career starts against the Giants while pitching to a 7.98 ERA.

WALK-OFFS

1. Cardinals RF Jason Heyward exited Monday's game with tightness in his left hamstring while CF Randal Grichuk (elbow) was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

2. The Giants activated Andrew Susac (thumb) from the 15-day DL and optioned fellow C Hector Sanchez to Triple-A Sacramento.

3. Molina is one homer shy of 100 for his career.

PREDICTION: Cardinals 4, Giants 3