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Braves try to solve Wainwright, Cards in series finale

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04/29/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aiming to snap their longest losing streak in nearly four years, the Braves next face an ace they have never before beaten.

Atlanta tries to snap an eight-game losing streak this afternoon in the finale of a four-game series at Busch Stadium versus the St. Louis Cardinals and Adam Wainwright, who will look to extend his team's season-best winning streak.

The Braves haven't picked up a victory since April 20 and are on their longest skid since a 10-game slide from June 11-22, 2006. A struggling offense has shouldered most of the blame, as Atlanta is last in the National League with a collective .227 batting average and its 77 runs scored are the second fewest. The Braves have also been shutout five times this year.

Atlanta has been outscored 34-13 over its current skid and had dropped three straight one-run games before getting routed, 6-0, last night. The Braves committed a pair of errors and totaled just seven hits in the game, including four off St. Louis starter Jamie Garcia.

"We just didn't have a lot of hitting tonight," said Braves manager Bobby Cox. "A lot of our hits came with two outs, and Garcia's hard to hit at. This is his fourth start, and nobody's touched him."

Garcia walked just one batter and struck out five in helping the Cardinals extend their longest winning streak of the season to four games. David Freese had two hits and a pair of runs batted in, while Albert Pujols and Colby Rasmus both had two hits, an RBI and a run scored.

"Ever since I was in spring training ... I said that this is going to be my year, and I'm going to come in here and do my best and try to enjoy every time I go out there," Garcia said.

Wainwright will try to bounce back from his first loss of the season today against a Braves team that he is 4-0 with 1.50 earned run average against lifetime in seven games, four of those starts.

The 28-year-old righty won his first three starts while posting a 1.50 ERA and didn't pitch poorly in his loss either. Wainwright gave up two runs on a season-high seven hits over eight innings of a 2-0 setback to the Giants on Saturday.

"I didn't have terrible stuff and I felt good on the mound," Wainwright told St. Louis' website. "The contact they had was not extreme. They just found the right spots. I just wasn't able to get them."

Atlanta, which swept a three-game series in St. Louis last season, is winless on a seven-game road trip that ends today and will try to avoid getting swept by the Cardinals in four games for the first time since Aug. 14-16, 1989 in a set at St. Louis that included a doubleheader.

The Braves today turn to Jair Jurrjens, a winner of 27 games over the past two seasons who is still in search of his first victory of 2010.

Jurrjens is 0-2 with a 5.48 ERA in four starts, allowing three runs in each of his last two outings. The right-hander faced the Mets on Saturday in his most recent start, suffering a 3-1 loss after giving up four hits and four walks over 6 2/3 innings.

Jurrjens, 24, has made three starts versus the Cardinals in his career and is 1-2 with a 2.14 ERA. He has struggled against Matt Holliday, who is 7-for-13 lifetime off Jurrjens with three doubles and four RBI, but Pujols is just 2- for-10 against him.