Red-hot right-hander Scott Feldman tries to keep the momentum going for the Chicago Cubs on Monday night when they open a three- game series with the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.
Feldman, who was signed as a free agent in the offseason, dropped his first three decisions with his new team before breaking through with an initial victory on April 26 in Miami.
He's 5-1 since the poor start while trimming his earned run average from above 4 to less than 3.
His lone loss in the stretch came against the Reds on May 24, when he allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of a 7-4 loss in Cincinnati.
The outing with the first of his career against the Reds.
Meanwhile, Feldman is 4-1 in five starts at Wrigley this season, having allowed just six earned runs in 33 innings with six walks and 31 strikeouts.
He's opposed by righty Homer Bailey, who's beaten Chicago in six of eight lifetime decisions.
The Texas native was a 5-2 winner in Cincinnati against the Cubs on May 25 after allowing two runs on five hits in seven innings.
He's winless in two subsequent starts, having allowed 10 runs in 10 2/3 innings in a loss at Cleveland and a no-decision against Colorado.
Bailey is 1-4 in six road starts in 2013.
On Sunday in Cincinnati, Matt Holliday hit his fifth career grand slam to cap a seven-run 10th inning as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Reds, 11-4, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Jay Bruce drove in three runs for the Reds, who have lost four of five. Brandon Phillips had an RBI.
Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo gave up two runs on six hits over six full frames.
In Chicago, Cody Ransom hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Cubs to a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates and avert a sweep of the three-game set.
Ransom also scored Chicago's first run of the day in the sixth inning, and his blast off Justin Wilson (5-1) enabled Edwin Jackson to record only his second win of the year after the struggling veteran turned in one of his best performances in a Cubs uniform.
Jackson (2-8) held Pittsburgh to a run on four hits while striking out eight over a season-high seven innings of work. He came into Sunday's matchup 0-5 with a 7.83 ERA in six home starts on the season.
"I told myself, 'just come out and have fun'", said Jackson. "Stay relaxed, stay loose and just play the game. Sometimes we take the game too serious and you're kind of confined in a bubble. Today I was able to come out of that bubble."
The Reds won seven of the first nine games with the Cubs in 2013, including two of three in a series in Cincinnati from May 24-26.
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