(Sports Network) - Lefty prodigy Jaime Garcia can get St. Louis back on track tonight when the Cardinals visit Arizona for a three-game set at Chase Field in the lone National League matchup of the weekend.
The Cardinals enter the series having lost four straight and trail the first- place Cincinnati Reds by 1 1/2 games in the NL Central.
They dropped a 4-3 decision at Los Angeles in their last game Wednesday, when Blake DeWitt's two-run single in the third inning proved to be the difference as the Dodgers completed a three-game series sweep.
Ryan Ludwick smacked a three-run homer for St. Louis, which hasn't lost five in a row since June 5-9 last season.
Adam Wainwright (8-4), coming off his first shutout, gave up four runs on eight hits in six frames to take the loss. He also struck out six and walked five.
Garcia, who'll turn 24 next month, has won five of seven decisions in 11 starts this season after he debuted with the team and made 10 appearances - one start - in 2009.
The former 22nd-round draft pick (2005) last got a victory on May 31 against Cincinnati, when he scattered seven hits and allowed two earned runs in six innings of a 12-4 triumph.
Garcia is unbeaten in five starts since a 2-0 loss at Pittsburgh on May 8.
He is 3-2 in six outings on the road while allowing 29 hits and seven earned runs in 36 1/3 innings.
He has never faced the Diamondbacks.
Arizona counters with veteran right-hander Rodrigo Lopez, who made his major- league debut with San Diego in 2000, the year Garcia turned 14.
Now 34, Lopez has won just 18 games over parts of four seasons since he notched a career-best 15 wins with the Baltimore Orioles in 2005.
He was 9-18 with the Orioles a season later, then won five games for Arizona in 2007 and three for Philadelphia last season before coming to the Diamondbacks in 2010.
Lopez's last win this season came May 15 at Atlanta, when he allowed a run on seven hits in eight innings of an 11-1 rout.
He's 0-2 with two no-decisions since, and got no verdict against the Cardinals on April 19 after surrendering seven hits and two runs in seven innings.
Lopez is 2-1 in four career starts against St. Louis.
On Thursday, pinch-hitter Brian McCann smacked a go-ahead RBI single in the Braves' four-run ninth inning, as Atlanta rallied past Arizona, 11-7, to earn a split in the four-game series.
The Diamondbacks scored twice in the seventh and got a three-run double from Kelly Johnson in the eighth to tie the game, but the Braves took advantage of opportunities against Chad Qualls (1-3) in the ninth to get the victory.
Johnson and Conor Jackson each had two hits for Arizona, which fell to 4-3 on its 10-game homestand.
St. Louis took two of three from the D-Backs earlier in the year after winning the series 4-2 a year ago.