(Sports Network) - The St. Louis Cardinals send out their most successful pitcher of 2008 to the mound as the playoff hopefuls shoot for a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers this afternoon at Busch Stadium.

After falling further back of both Chicago and Milwaukee in the National League Central race due to a stretch of nine losses in a 14-game span, the Cardinals have improved their positioning with consecutive victories in this series. St. Louis used the long ball to down the Dodgers last night, as Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick socked back-to-back home runs during a big fourth inning that lifted the Cards to a 9-6 triumph.

Pujols snapped a 3-3 tie with a grand slam off Los Angeles starter Derek Lowe and Ludwick followed with his 29th homer of the season. The two All-Stars combined for seven hits and six RBI on the evening, with Pujols finishing 4- for-4 at the plate.

Ludwick has now gone deep in five straight contests and is batting .486 (18- for-37) with six home runs and 12 RBI during a current nine-game hitting streak.

Cardinals right-hander Joel Pineiro (4-5) allowed four runs and eight hits over seven innings to end a four-start winless streak, while rookie Chris Perez tossed 1 2/3 scoreless frames to notch his first career save.

Lowe (8-10) was torched for eight runs and 13 hits before being yanked after just 3 1/3 innings, as Los Angeles suffered its fourth loss in its last six games.

Manny Ramirez had a solo homer, his third since joining the Dodgers in a blockbuster trade last week, and an RBI single in the loss. Casey Blake, another recent addition to the Los Angeles lineup, ended 3-for-4 with an RBI double.

St. Louis remained a half-game back of the Brewers for the top spot in the NL Wild Card standings and 5 1/2 behind the NL Central-leading Cubs with Wednesday's win. The Dodgers enter today's play trailing NL West front-runner Arizona by 2 1/2 games.

The Cardinals go for the sweep today behind 13-game winner Kyle Lohse, who will be attempting to continue his season-long success in St. Louis. The offseason free-agent pickup improved to 7-1 at home this year after defeating Philadelphia on Friday, and has posted a strong 2.92 earned run average in his 14 starts on the Busch Stadium mound.

Lohse wasn't overly sharp in his most recent outing, however. He worked just 5 1/3 innings against the Phillies and surrendered three runs while issuing three walks. Prior to that start, the right-hander was rocked for seven runs and 11 hits over five frames in a July 27 loss to the Mets.

The 29-year-old is 1-1 with a 4.85 ERA in four career appearances (2 starts) against Los Angeles and beat the Dodgers with six shutout innings back in May.

Phenom Clayton Kershaw seeks a third straight outstanding start for the Dodgers this afternoon. The rookie earned his first major league victory by firing six scoreless innings against Washington on July 27, then followed up by shutting out Arizona over six frames on Friday. He did not factor in the decision of LA's 2-1 loss, however.

Kershaw made his big league debut against the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on May 25 and was impressive. The 20-year-old allowed two runs and struck out a personal-best seven batters in a six-inning no-decision.

St. Louis is 4-1 against the Dodgers this season and has won six of the last seven meetings between the teams. Los Angeles is just 2-11 in regular-season play at Busch Stadium since the start of the 2005 campaign.