Los Angeles @ St. Louis preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 23, 2011 ) LA Dodgers 13, St. Louis 2

THE STORY: Quickly fading out of postseason contention, St. Louis looks to avoid a three-game sweep at home when it faces off against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinals, who are now 10 games behind Milwaukee in the National League Central and 10 1/2 back in the wild-card race, blew a late lead in Monday's 2-1 defeat before being throttled in a 13-2 rout on Tuesday. Rod Barajas led the onslaught with two home runs and four runs batted in for the Dodgers.

TV: 2:15 p.m. ET, Prime (Los Angeles), Fox Sports (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUPS: Dodgers RH Hiroki Kuroda (9-14, 2.88) vs. Cardinals LH Jaime Garcia (10-6, 3.45)

Only six starters in baseball have gotten less run support than Kuroda, who is tied for the National League lead in losses despite ranking 10th in ERA. Kuroda has been particularly strong during August, going 3-1 with a 1.71 ERA over his last four starts after ending July with four consecutive defeats. He is 0-2 with a 3.00 ERA in four career starts against the Cardinals, including an April 14 defeat that saw him allow a season-high six runs (five earned) in five innings.

Garcia has been struggling of late, going winless (0-2) over his last five starts while yielding 22 runs (17 earned) in 27 1/3 innings of work. A lack of command has been partly to blame — Garcia has nine walks and nine strikeouts over his last three outings. He beat Kuroda and the Dodgers on April 14 (5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER), his second win in as many career starts against Los Angeles.

ABOUT THE DODGERS (59-69): A Los Angeles offense that has struggled for much of the year unloaded on the Cardinals Tuesday, posting its second-highest run total of the season. Despite the Dodgers' frequent issues scoring runs, they do possess a strong National League MVP candidate in Matt Kemp, who ranks among the league leaders in batting average (.322), home runs (29) and RBIs (95) after delivering a three-run shot in the first inning Tuesday. Kemp also ranks third in the NL with 33 stolen bases.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS (67-62): St. Louis led the National League Central by 1/2 game on the morning of July 27 but has steadily faded since, going 12-14 in its last 26 games while the division-leading Brewers have won 23 of 27 during that same span. The Cardinals still rank near the top of the National League in most offensive categories, but they have struggled to get any consistency of late, scoring two runs or fewer in seven of their 11 losses this month. Part of the problem has been a penchant for grounding into double plays — the Cardinals hit into two more Tuesday to up their MLB-high total to 139.

FINAL PITCH: The Cardinals had won 40 of its last 59 games against the Dodgers, including the first three meetings this season, prior to this week's two defeats. Los Angeles came into the series with a 5-23 record in its last 28 games in St. Louis.