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 Throwing eight solid innings Monday night, Lackey paced the St.
Louis Cardinals to their fourth consecutive win, a 3-2 decision over
the Minnesota Twins at sold-out Busch Stadium.
Lackey (5-4) gave up five hits and two runs, walked one and fanned
six. Working with six days of rest after his Sunday start against
Kansas City was rained out, Lackey threw 100 pitches, 74 for
strikes. He was hit hard at Colorado on June 8.
Minnesota finally got to Lackey in the seventh on a two-out, RBI
single from catcher Kurt Suzuki, then closed within a run in the
eighth on a sacrifice fly by second baseman Brian Dozier.
However, Kevin Siegrist, pitching the ninth in place of normal St.
Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal, picked up his second save as third
baseman Matt Carpenter made a diving catch on Suzuki's liner for the
last out with the tying run at first.
Twins starter Trevor May (4-5) allowed five hits and three runs over
five innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
While Minnesota (34-29) ate its sixth loss in seven games, the
Cardinals (42-21) upped their home record to a major-league-best
25-7.
After a 20-minute rain delay before the first pitch, neither team
put a hitter on base until St. Louis left fielder Randal Grichuk
tripled off the left-center-field wall to lead off the bottom of the
third. Center fielder Jon Jay followed with a bloop single over a
drawn-in infield for a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals made it 3-0 in the fourth with their first
back-to-back homers of the year.
First baseman Mark Reynolds whacked a 410-foot shot into the
Minnesota bullpen in left field for his fifth of the year.
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Catcher Yadier Molina then broke a homer drought of 343 at-bats with
a line drive into the Twins bullpen, his first long ball since June
27, 2014, at Dodger Stadiu,.
NOTES: St. Louis announced that it would make up Sunday's
postponement with the Kansas City Royals at 6:15 p.m. on July 23. It
was a mutual open date for both teams, putting neither in violation
of playing more than 20 consecutive days. ... Minnesota RF Torii
Hunter returned to the lineup after serving his two-game suspension
for a tirade following his ejection Wednesday night from a 7-2 loss
to the Royals. He went 0-for-3. ... OF Nick Plummer and RHP Jake
Woodford, both first-round draft picks last week, were among 19
players to sign minor league deals with the Cardinals on Monday.
Plummer took batting practice with the team.
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