A day after being baffled by St. Louis hurler Chris Carpenter, the Detroit Tigers face a must-win situation in Game 4 of the World Series on Wednesday.

Carpenter, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, pitched eight shutout innings Tuesday night as the hometown Cardinals blanked the Tigers 5-0 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead.

Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan sports a 1-1 record with an impressive 1.86 earned-run average in this year's playoffs.
(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Things won't get any easier for the Tigers in Game 4, as St. Louis will send Jeff Suppan to the mound.

Suppan has been sensational in this year's playoffs. The right-hander sports a 1-1 record with an impressive 1.86 earned-run average, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the NLCS and he has allowed just two runs over 15 innings during his last two starts.

"This guy's been such nails for us," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I don't think you can give him enough credit."

The Tigers will answer with 23-year-old Jeremy Bonderman, who is 1-0 with a 3.08 ERA in the playoffs. Bonderman has had two strong outings in the playoffs to clinch the Tigers' last two series, but both games were in Detroit; this will be his first playoff start on the road.

Offence is offensive

Hitting has been Detroit's big problem: the Tigers enter Wednesday's contest with a club batting average of .185, and have scored just five runs through the first three games of the series. The Tigers are a horrible 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Ivan Rodriguez are a combined 0 for 34 in the World Series. Rodriguez is 0 for 11 in the series, and 0 for 22 in this post-season.

"If we don't swing the bats better, [St. Louis will] go up, 3-1," Detroit manager Jim Leyland told MLB.com. "That's as simple as it is.

"But at the same time, I think we will swing the bats better. We're certainly not conceding anything."

History suggests that should Detroit lose Wednesday, their chances of staging a comeback are bleak.

Of the 39 teams to take a 3-1 lead in the World Series, 34 have gone on to win the title. The last team to squander such an advantage was the 1985 Cardinals, who lost in seven games to Kansas City.

Detroit can take comfort in the fact that the 1968 Tigers rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series. Detroit's opponent in that series?  The Cardinals.

Game 5 goes Thursday at 8 p.m. ET in St. Louis.