Carpenter aims to pitch Cards past slumping Braves

Baseball Betting Lines

09/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals co-ace Chris Carpenter has recorded 16 wins in a season only twice in his career, He'll be looking to reach that mark again tonight in the second installment of a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves from Turner Field.

Carpenter won a career-best 21 games in 2005 and finished last season with a 17-4 mark. This year the right-hander is 15-5 with a 2.90 ERA in 30 starts and has won six of his last eight decisions.

St. Louis is counting on Carpenter to keep the club within striking distance of a playoff spot. He is coming off a win over rival Cincinnati on Sunday in which he allowed only two runs through 7 1/3 innings.

The right-hander has lasted at least six innings in 12 straight trips to the mound and will face Atlanta for the second time this season. Carpenter beat the Braves on April 27 at Busch Stadium, allowing two runs in six innings of a 5-4 win. He is 3-2 in eight lifetime starts versus Atlanta to go along with a less desirable 5.83 earned run average.

St. Louis put up enough runs in last night's 11-4 win over the Braves for fellow staff ace Adam Wainwright, who yielded three runs and seven hits in eight innings to record his 18th win of the season. Wainwright (18-10) was rattled for all three runs in the first, but settled down after his team posted a five-spot in the top of the second inning.

Skip Schumaker clubbed a two-run homer in the frame and Colby Rasmus ended with a pair of solo homers and four RBI for the Cardinals, winners of four of their last seven games.

"It's definitely not the way we wanted to start out," said Rasmus, who finished 4-for-4 with three runs scored. "But we couldn't do anything about it. We put a five-spot on them, that was huge."

Albert Pujols got into the act with his 37th home run of the season, while Brendan Ryan plated a pair of baserunners to help pull the Cardinals within five games of the National League Central-leading Reds. Cincinnati has lost five in a row to give St. Louis a glimmer of hope.

Meanwhile, the Braves have lost six of their last eight games to fall out of the first place in the NL East. Now sitting a game behind Philadelphia for division bragging rights, Atlanta played poorly in Thursday's setback.

Jair Jurrjens got the nod for Bobby Cox's club and was hammered for seven runs and 10 hits in only 3 2/3 innings, falling to 7-5 on the season.

"Just everything was up," Jurrjens said. "They've got a really good lineup, and they have really good hitters on that team when you leave the pitches up. It seems like I was throwing [batting practice] the whole game."

Derrek Lee clubbed a two-run homer during a three-run first inning for the Braves, who lead the National League Wild Card race by a game ahead of San Francisco, while both Jason Heyward and Eric Hinske drove in a run in the loss. The Giants topped San Diego last night in the opener of their crucial series with the Padres.

Braves rookie Mike Minor hopes to make a major impact tonight for his club and is 3-0 with a 5.33 earned run average over his first five big league starts. After winning three straight trips to the bump, Minor did not record a decision in Sunday's 7-6 loss at Florida, as he was touched for six runs and nine hits in four frames. He struck out five batters.

Minor, a left-hander, will face St. Louis for the first time tonight.

The Cardinals swept a four-game set from the Braves in late April at Busch Stadium and have won five straight in this series.

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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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