(Best E Casino) - The St. Louis Cardinals hope that the home crowd can lift their depleted spirits, as the slumping club opens a six-game homestand tonight with the first of three straight games versus the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium.

St. Louis has lost two straight and five of six and finished an eight-game road trip with a 3-5 record. In Monday's 8-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in the finale of a four-game series at Miller Park, Rick Ankiel homered and both Jason LaRue and Skip Schumaker drove in a run. Starter Adam Wainwright was tagged with the loss after being shelled for eight runs -- six earned -- on eight hits over six innings.

The Cardinals will also host the Tampa Bay Rays for three games on this stand.

Taking the ball for St. Louis tonight will be Kyle Lohse, who will try to put the brakes on a personal two-start losing streak. Lohse last took the hill Thursday at Colorado, where he yielded seven runs in four innings of a 9-3 loss. In a game versus the Cubs five days earlier, Lohse was reached for eight runs in six frames during a 9-3 setback at Busch Stadium.

Lohse, who opened the season 3-0 in six starts, is 3-2 with a 4.87 earned run average through eight trips to the hill in 2008. The right-hander is 2-0 with a solid 1.78 ERA in four career games (three starts) against Pittsburgh.

The Pirates begin a six-game road trip on Tuesday, and just split a doubleheader with the Atlanta Braves yesterday at PNC Park. Pittsburgh extended its winning streak to six games with a 5-0 victory in the first contest, as Freddy Sanchez doubled in three runs and Zach Duke pitched six scoreless innings for his second straight win.

Pittsburgh's winning streak came to an end in the nightcap, as the team suffered an 8-1 loss to close out a seven-game stand with a 6-1 mark. John Van Benschoten was reached for seven runs -- six earned -- on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts in four-plus innings for the Pirates, who had their first six-game winning streak in almost four years stopped.

Doug Mientkiewicz had a double and scored the lone Pirates' run in the nightcap.

Pittsburgh will also visit the Chicago Cubs for three games at Wrigley Field.

Taking the ball for the Pirates tonight will be Phil Dumatrait, who is 1-1 with a 3.86 earned run average in 12 games (2 starts) this season. He last pitched on Wednesday versus San Francisco and hurled 5 2/3 shutout innings in a 3-1 win, notching five strikeouts and one walk.

Dumatrait, a left-hander, faced the Cardinals in a relief role at PNC Park on April 24, allowing a pair of runs and six hits in two innings for a no decision in a 6-2 loss.

St. Louis and Pittsburgh split two meetings in the Steel City earlier this season, while the Cardinals are 34-17 in the series since the start of the 2005 campaign.