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Cards' Looper put in charge of cooling Pirates' hot bats

Sun 1st, June 2008

(Sports Network) - The Pittsburgh Pirates will attempt to bring out the heavy lumber for a second straight day as the hard-hitting club resumes a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Pittsburgh drew even in this set between National League Central foes with a 19-hit onslaught on Saturday that resulted in a 14-4 rout. Luis Rivas belted his first career grand slam and was one of three Pirate players to homer on the night, while Xavier Nady knocked in three runs with a first-inning double that staked the Bucs to an early lead.

Ronny Paulino and Freddy Sanchez also went deep for Pittsburgh, with Paulino finishing 3-for-5 with three RBI and Sanchez collecting three hits as well. Jose Bautista went 4-for-5 with a run-scoring single to help the Pirates improve to 2-3 on a current seven-game road trip.

Pittsburgh also received a sharp effort on the mound from Paul Maholm (3-5). The left-hander held St. Louis to one run and four hits without issuing a walk over the first 6 2/3 innings.

On the other side, Cardinals rookie Mike Parisi (0-2) was bombed for eight runs and eight hits and lasted just 2 2/3 innings in his first major league start.

Troy Glaus hit a solo homer for St. Louis, which had a three-game win streak halted, while Albert Pujols ended 2-for-3 to raise his season average to .369.

A Pittsburgh offense that ranks fourth among NL teams in runs scored will take its swings today against struggling Cardinals right-hander Braden Looper. The ex-closer is 1-3 with a 7.17 ERA over his four most recent mound trips and hasn't pitched beyond six innings on any of those occasions. Over that span, the right-hander has given up 34 hits in just 21 1/3 innings of work.

Looper was lit up for eight runs (7 earned) on nine hits before being yanked after 4 1/3 innings in a home loss to Houston on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old is 2-2 with five lifetime saves against the Pirates, while posting a 3.07 ERA over 27 total games (3 starts).

Ian Snell will also attempt to put a poor performance in his last start behind him when he takes the mound for Pittsburgh. The talented hurler was a mess on the mound in Tuesday's outing at Cincinnati, as Snell issued seven walks in just five innings and allowed seven runs to suffer the loss in the Pirates' 9-6 setback.

The defeat left Snell with a 1-3 record and a subpar 6.75 earned run average in seven road starts this year.

The 26-year-old is going through one of the roughest stretches of his five- year career, having lost four straight decisions and failing to record a victory in any of his last eight starts. Snell hasn't won since April 12.

He was also hit hard in a May 15 start at Busch Stadium, where Snell surrendered five runs and 11 hits over a season-low four innings. He was spared another potential loss, however, when the Pirates rallied late for an 11-5 victory.

Snell has faced the Cardinals 10 times previously (9 starts) and owns a 3-3 record with a 4.25 ERA against St. Louis.

Pittsburgh owns a 4-3 edge in the 2008 season series with St. Louis following Saturday's triumph. The Bucs took two of three from the Cards at Busch Stadium earlier this month.

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