(Sports Network) - The St. Louis Cardinals take aim at a fourth consecutive victory as the club continues a three-game series with the visiting Washington Nationals this afternoon at Busch Stadium.

After falling to Colorado in its season opener on Tuesday, the Cardinals took two straight matchups from the defending National League champions before edging the Nationals last night in game one of this set. Rick Ankiel belted a two-run homer in the first inning and St. Louis survived a late Washington rally to hold on for a 5-4 win.

The Cardinals built an early 5-1 lead and received six strong innings out of starting pitcher Braden Looper. The converted reliever yielded just one run on five hits to notch a victory in his season debut.

Washington scored three times against the St. Louis bullpen in the seventh to make it a one-run game, and got the potential tying run to second base with one out in the ninth. However, Cards closer Jason Isringhausen ended the threat with back-to-back strikeouts of Ronnie Belliard and Felipe Lopez to earn his second save of the year.

Belliard ended 2-for-5 with two RBI and Cristian Guzman had a solo home run for the Nationals, who have lost two in a row following a 3-0 start.

Washington starter Odalis Perez was not sharp on the mound, as the veteran lefty was reached for five runs on eight hits and issued four walks before exiting after four innings.

Adam Wainwright is scheduled to make his first official start of the season for the Cardinals this afternoon. The team's No. 1 starter was on the mound for Monday's scheduled Opening Day outing with Colorado and pitched three innings, but the contest wound up being delayed and eventually postponed due to rain. St. Louis was leading by a 5-1 score at the time.

Wainwright's first full major league season as a starter was a solid one for the 26-year-old, who delivered a 14-12 record and a 3.70 earned run average over 32 outings in 2007. He did his best work in the second half, producing an excellent 2.71 ERA in 15 starts after the break.

The former first-round draft choice has never beaten the Nationals (0-1) in four previous appearances, two of which have been starts, despite recording a 2.76 ERA over that span.

Washington's Matt Chico will attempt to build off a decent first start of the year when he takes the bump this afternoon. The second-year hurler was last in action Monday in Philadelphia and received a no decision in an 11-6 Nationals' win. Chico worked the first 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits while walking just one.

The 24-year-old lefty had a pair of no decisions against St. Louis during his rookie campaign of 2007 and gave up three runs over nine total innings in those two games.

Washington had won four in a row over the Cardinals prior to last night's setback, but has still taken six of the last eight encounters of this series. The Nationals won two of three tilts in their lone visit to St. Louis in 2007.