The St. Louis Cardinals continued their interleague homestand on Monday night when they faced off against another American League Central team, the Minnesota Twins. The Twins entered the game less than two games behind the Kansas City Royals in the AL Central looking to gain ground.
Unfortunately, they would not gain ground in the division as the Cardinals defeated the Twins in front of a sellout Busch Stadium crowd of over 40,000.
For the game, the pitching matchup was John Lackey (4-4, 3.74) for St. Louis, and Trevor May (4-4, 4.16) for Minnesota.
The game started with two consecutive scoreless innings for both Lackey and May, and both innings were 1-2-3 innings as well. Lackey also retired the first nine batters that he faced in the game. In the bottom of the third inning, St. Louis scored the first run of the evening. Randal Grichuk had launched a triple into the outfield, and Jon Jay scored Grichuk with a single of his own, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
After another shutout inning by Lackey in the top of the fourth, May went back to work on the mound in the bottom of the fourth. And the Cardinals increased their lead with, not one, but two home runs.
Including one Cardinal player’s first.
Following a strikeout by Jhonny Peralta, first baseman Mark Reynolds stepped up to the plate, and hit his fifth home run of the season, which gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead over Minnesota. And then, catcher Yadier Molina came up to bat. And just like Reynolds, Molina hit a home run to left field.
It was the first home run for the veteran catcher, as the crowd at Busch Stadium erupted in cheers as the long wait for his first home run of the season was finally over. The back-to-back home runs gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead over the Twins heading into the fifth inning.
Lackey, on the other hand, pitched another 1-2-3 inning to start off the fifth. May followed with a 1-2-3 inning of his own.
In the top of the sixth inning, former Cardinals’ outfielder Shane Robinson entered the game to pinch hit for May, and Robinson led off with a single to center field. Byron Buxton, the Twins’ top prospect, then flied out to center. Brian Dozier followed with a fielder’s choice, which sent Robinson to second base.
Rosario would then be struck out by Lackey to end the inning, as the Twins stranded a runner.
Michael Tonkin entered the game to pitch in relief of May, and later in the inning, Brian Duensing entered the game as well, and both pitched a shutout half inning to keep it a 3-0 game heading into the seventh inning.
The Twins’ Trevor Plouffe, in the top of the seventh inning, hit a double after a lineout by catcher Joe Mauer. Kurt Suzuki, after a Torri Hunter lineout, hit a single scoring Plouffe and putting the Twins on the board.
They would get on the board again in the top of the eighth inning with a Dozier sacrifice fly, scoring Buxton and making it a one run game.
But Minnesota would not score another run.
Lackey was taken out in the ninth inning, with his final line of the evening being: 8.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Kevin Siegrist entered the game in the top of the ninth in relief of Lackey, and started the inning with a three pitch strikeout of Mauer. Plouffe then grounded out to Siegrist, and after a hit-by-pitch by Hunter, Suzuki lined out to end the game, as the Cardinals won 3-2.
With the win, St. Louis improved to 42-21, as Minnesota dropped to 34-29. Lackey won his 5th game of the year (he’s now 5-4), and May dropped to (4-5). Siegrist also picked up his second save of the season.
Tomorrow afternoon’s game features Michael Wacha on the mound for the Cardinals.
(Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
