Paul Goldschmidt has looked comfortable at the plate in his home park but hasn't been at his best in the Arizona Diamondbacks' recent road games.
Goldschmidt will try to change that during a six-game trip that begins Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals as the Diamondbacks go for a seventh win in eight games.
Goldschmidt homered and drove in three runs for the second time in three games against the Chicago Cubs in a 4-3 victory Sunday. He was 5 for 10 in the series for Arizona (21-22) and has helped keep his average at .333 by going 22 for 45 (.489) in his last 13 home games.
By contrast, Goldschmidt was 5 for 25 on a seven-game trip that ended Thursday.
"I just try to hit it and keep it simple, and hopefully, they don't catch it. I've been feeling pretty good the past week or so," he told MLB's official website.
Goldschmidt is hitting .323 with two homers and 10 RBIs in his last eight games in St. Louis, but Arizona has lost four straight and nine of 12 there.
The Diamondbacks are trying to get back to .500 for the first time since they were 8-8 on April 24, but are just 2-6 in Chase Anderson's starts.
Anderson (1-1, 2.54 ERA), however, can't entirely be blamed for that record.
After receiving a combined 10 runs of support in his first seven outings, the right-hander earned his first win of the season with Wednesday's 6-1 victory over Miami. He yielded one run while pitching into the ninth inning for the first time and has a 1.03 ERA in four starts this month.
"He's mixed his pitches and commanded both sides of the plate. He does all the little things well," manager Chip Hale said. "Is his stuff electric? It's pretty good. I don't think people give him enough credit for having good stuff."
In his first start against St. Louis, Anderson will face a team that totaled two runs and 14 hits in three consecutive losses before a 6-1 win in Kansas City on Sunday. The Cardinals (28-16) had 10 hits despite the absences of Matt Holliday (forearm) and Jason Heyward (hip).
"Not getting a win today would have hurt," said third baseman Matt Carpenter, who had a two-run homer in the sixth. "It's nice to end (a seven-game road trip) on a good note."
Carpenter is batting .419 in his last nine contests against Arizona and the Cardinals won five of six meetings in 2014.
Carlos Martinez (4-2, 4.08) will make his first start against the Diamondbacks after allowing four hits over 6 1/3 innings in Wednesday's 9-0 win over the New York Mets. The right-hander has a 1.59 ERA in his last two starts after posting a 14.00 ERA in his previous two.
Yadier Molina has six multihit performances in his last eight home games against Arizona, batting .364 with five doubles. Matt Adams is 10 for 24 (.417) with two homers and five doubles in the past seven overall meetings.
Mark Trumbo has three home runs in six career contests against the Cardinals and is 7 for 22 (.318) with seven RBIs.
