Surging Cardinals welcome Mets to Busch
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}St. Louis righty Edwin Jackson gets his first career start streaking Cardinals continue a game set at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals come into the series after taking three of four from the Philadelphia Phillies to move within 2 1/2 games of the Atlanta Braves for the lead in the National League wild card chase.
The Braves lost their second in a row and seventh in 10 games on Monday in Florida.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jackson, who began the season with the Chicago White Sox, came to the Cardinals in a trade deadline deal and has been solid in 10 starts. He's won five of seven decisions in the NL, including three in a row over five starts since Aug. 20.
He was a 3-2 winner at Pittsburgh in his most recent outing Sept. 14, allowing two earned runs and walking none with five strikeouts.
The 28-year-old, born in what was then West Germany, is 60-60 in 120 career decisions over 200 big-league appearances - but he's never faced the Mets.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New York counters with right-hander Mike Pelfrey, who's dropped off from 15 wins last season. The former first-round draft pick is winless in four starts since Aug. 24, when he downed Philadelphia, 7-4 with six innings of three-run ball.
He's 0-2 since, including a tough-luck 2-0 loss to Washington in his last start Sept. 14, when he allowed two unearned runs in seven innings.
Pelfrey is 2-0 with a save in three career meetings with St. Louis, posting a stingy 1.20 earned run average in 15 innings.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Monday in Philadelphia, Kyle Lohse outdueled Roy Halladay, and Lance Berkman drove in a pair of runs for the Cardinals in a 4-3 victory over the Phillies.
Lohse (14-8) worked 7 1/3 innings, scattering seven hits and one unearned run with five strikeouts, while Halladay (18-6) gave up four runs on six hits in eight full frames.
Nick Punto and Albert Pujols knocked in a run each for the Cardinals. Rafael Furcal added three hits and scored once.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, in Atlanta on Sunday the Mets helped the Cards' cause, as Ruben Tejada's RBI single in the eighth inning put New York ahead for good in a 7-5 victory over the Braves in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Tejada had two hits and knocked in four runs as the Mets won for the second time in three games.
Tim Byrdak (2-0) got the win in relief of starter Dillon Gee, who lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and five walks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Byrdak signed a one-year contract with the Mets after the game.