Adam Wainwright is coming off his best and longest performance of the season, but feels he can be even better.
That's certainly his sentiment regarding his last meeting with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Wainwright looks to keep the St. Louis Cardinals rolling by avenging his first loss Saturday night against the struggling Brewers.
Wainwright (2-1, 1.71 ERA) was superb Sunday, allowing one run in eight innings of a 2-1 win over Cincinnati. It was the longest start of the season for St. Louis (11-4), coming from the ace who was limited to three starts in spring training due to an abdomen injury.
"I'll continue to grow in my velocity, and the sharpness of my off-speed breaking ball is getting better at times," Wainwright told MLB's official website. "My breaking ball and cutter are still not where I want them to be. Neither is my fastball location or velocity. We'll just keep building and building and building until we get to where we want to be."
The right-hander was still struggling with his effectiveness when he faced the Brewers on April 13, giving up five runs in seven innings of a 5-4 loss, though only three runs were earned.
Wainwright didn't have many problems while winning his two starts at Miller Park last year, yielding three runs in 16 innings and going the distance in a 9-1 victory Sept. 7.
He could be in for a similar result as Milwaukee (3-14) owns the worst record in baseball after losing nine of 10.
The Cardinals won for the eighth time in nine tries Friday, 3-0 to open the three-game series. However, they suffered a potential blow when Yadier Molina exited after taking a foul tip off the knee guard in the fourth inning.
It's uncertain if the catcher will be in the lineup Saturday, but he was hit by a foul ball on the same knee last week and didn't miss any time.
"I was feeling better and boom, I get hit again in the same spot," Molina said. "He got me on the muscle. It's just a big bruise."
Jhonny Peralta has recorded at least one hit in each of St. Louis' nine road games. He can become the first Cardinal to go 10 straight since Albert Pujols' 18-game run to start 2008.
Peralta is batting .342 with two homers during his streak after connecting for a solo shot for one of his three hits Friday. He has a .482 average with seven homers and 14 RBIs in 14 games at Milwaukee, getting at least one hit in 13.
The Brewers' Wily Peralta (0-2, 5.68) gets a fourth chance to earn his first win. The right-hander gave up six runs and two homers over his final two innings before leaving after the seventh in Monday's 6-1 loss to the Reds. That came five days after he allowed four runs and 10 hits in five innings of a 4-2 defeat at St. Louis.
Peralta compiled a 1.86 ERA while winning two of three at home against the Cardinals last year. He's held Peralta to a 3-for-17 effort, but Matt Carpenter is 11 for 24 against him.
Carpenter is batting .426 in an 11-game hitting streak, one shy of teammate Matt Holliday and Oakland's Billy Butler for the longest in the majors this year.
The third baseman has recorded two hits in each of the four meetings with the Brewers this season, going 8 for 18 with five doubles.
