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Royals, Cards kick off I-70 Series at Busch

Jun 2, 2014 - 2:36 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals will both be looking to rebound from shutout losses on Monday evening when the two start up their I-70 series at Busch Stadium.

These interleague rivals will play two in a row in St. Louis before finishing up this four-game home-and-home set with a pair of meetings in Kansas City starting on Wednesday.

The Cardinals have won 11 of the previous 15 encounters, taking three of four a season ago.

However, St. Louis has dropped four of its past five overall and was blanked 8-0 by the San Francisco Giants on Sunday to conclude a four-game set.

Lance Lynn gave up seven runs -- four earned -- on eight hits and four walks over just 3 1/3 innings.

"You'rejust going to have those days," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "We just couldn't get anything going."

Matt Carpenter was one exception for the Cardinals with a pair of hits, giving him a .390 batting average over a 14-game hitting streak.

The Royals also failed to produce any runs to cap their weekend, falling 4-0 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday. Jeremy Guthrie allowed two runs in the setback on eight hits and two walks over seven frames for the Royals, who have dropped six of their last eight tilts.

Third baseman Mike Moustakas returned to the Royals lineup on Sunday just over a week after getting sent to Triple-A Omaha. He went 0-for-3 versus Toronto and is hitting just .148 in 41 games this year with four homers and 17 RBI.

Moustakas did hit .355 with a home run and five RBI in eight games at Triple-A Omaha, and manager Ned Yost liked what he saw out of the struggling third baseman on Sunday.

"Moose looked great," Yost said on Kansas City's website. "He had some great at-bats, made some great defensive plays at third base. Nice to have him back."

Moustakas' return was made possible when third baseman Danny Valencia landed on the disabled list because of a sprained left wrist.

Danny Duffy will get the start for the Royals tonight and he had an interesting outing the last and only other time he faced the Cardinals.

In a meeting at Busch Stadium on June 19, 2011, Duffy gave up two runs and struck out nine over 3 2/3 innings before exiting with a left calf cramp. He did not get a decision despite becoming just the third pitcher since 1946 and first since David Cone in 1990 to struck out at least nine batters in no more than 3 2/3 innings of work.

The left-handed Duffy is 2-5 this season with a 3.57 earned run average in 11 games, five of those starts. He has taken back-to-back losses, giving up four homers over that time.

The 25-year-old yielded two of those in a 9-3 setback to Houston on Wednesday, lasting four-plus innings and getting charged with six runs, five of those earned.

Like Duffy, Cardinals starter Shelby Miller will be hoping to avoid a third straight losing start as he struggled in a 7-4 setback to the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

The right-handed Miller gave up all seven runs, a career high, on nine hits and two walks over five innings of work. He fell to 6-4 with a 3.94 ERA on the year.

"They were just on everything. You just didn't see a lot of bad swings. The damage was done," Matheny said. "I don't have a good explanation for it and I don't think he (Miller) does either."

The 23-year-old Miller, who had won five straight starts and six decisions in a row before his current slump, will face the Royals for the first time.