(My Sportsbook) - An old-fashioned rivalry resumes this evening between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, as the NL Central rivals kick off a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Chicago recently won two of three games against St. Louis at Wrigley Field from April 16-18. The series was originally slated to be four games, but the finale was postponed because of rain and rescheduled for a July 12th day-night doubleheader.

St. Louis is coming off a three-game sweep against the New York Mets to improve to 11-5 this season and posted a 12-8 victory on Thursday thanks to a productive day at the plate from Albert Pujols. The reigning NL MVP went 3- for-4 with a pair of homers, three runs batted in and four runs scored to lead the Cardinals, who got three hits -- including a homer -- and two RBI from Rick Ankiel.

Ryan Ludwick and Skip Schumaker each drove in two runs to help St. Louis to its seventh straight home win.

Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse (3-0) pitched the first five innings to pick up the win and added an RBI single at the plate. He gave up two runs -- one earned -- on eight hits with a walk and one strikeout.

Adam Wainwright will try to improve to 3-0 on the season when he takes the ball tonight against the Cubs. Wainwright is 2-0 with a 3.31 earned run average in three starts this season, and has won his last two trips to the hill since opening the season with a no-decision versus Pittsburgh.

Wainwright, a right-hander, pitched five shutout innings against Houston at home on April 11, then gave up four runs in six innings of a win at Chicago five days later. He is 2-3 with a 6.08 ERA in 16 career games, seven of which have been starts, against the Cubs.

Chicago will open a six-game road trip against St. Louis and Arizona and has lost two straight after a three-game winning streak. The Cubs suffered a 7-1 setback to Cincinnati on Thursday in the finale of a three-game series, as Joey Votto went 4-for-5 with a home run, a pair of doubles and two runs batted in to power the Reds.

Alfonso Soriano went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Ryan Theriot had the lone RBI for the Cubs, who got a subpar performance from starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Zambrano (1-1) gave up four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits in seven innings of work to absorb the loss. He fanned seven and walked two.

Ryan Dempster will try for a better showing when he toes the rubber for the Cubs on Friday. Dempster is 1-0 with a 5.00 ERA and a pair of no-decisions in three starts this season, and did not factor in the outcome of a 7-5 win over St. Louis his last time out on Saturday. He allowed four runs for the second straight start and gave up four hits in six frames.

The righty is 6-5 with a 4.73 earned run average in 38 career appearances (12 starts) against the Cardinals.