Padres on Deck @ Cardinals, Game 1 of 4

San Diego (37-58) at St. Louis (53-43), 5:15 pm, 4SD/1090/105.7

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- After a rough start to the season, Jake Peavy looks more like the pitcher who claimed the National League Cy Young Award last season. However, Kyle Lohse has been on top of his game all year. Peavy and his San Diego Padres face off against Lohse and the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a four-game set on Thursday. After claiming the pitching equivalent of the "Triple Crown" last season - leading the NL with 19 wins, 240 strikeouts and a 2.54 ERA - Peavy (7-5, 2.47 ERA) was unable to overcome his team's offensive woes, going 5-5 despite maintaining a 2.90 ERA through 15 starts. However, the righthander has been provided with seven runs of run support over his last two starts and earned consecutive wins.

Peavy was strong in his last outing, yielding four hits and seven strikeouts over seven innings in a 4-0 win on Friday over Atlanta. To get the Padres' season-high 11-game road trip started on a positive note, Peavy will match wits with Lohse (11-2, 3.39), who hasn't tasted defeat in 12 starts. The righthander has been a revelation since signing a one-year, $4.25 million deal with the Cardinals after going 9-12 with a 4.62 ERA in 34 games - 32 starts - in 2007 with Cincinnati and Philadelphia. Lohse collected his eighth victory over his last 10 starts on Friday, permitting six hits and striking out three over seven frames in St. Louis' 6-0 win at Pittsburgh.