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Cards' Wacha faces Twins for first time

Jun 16, 2015 - 12:11 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Michael Wacha didn't have his best stuff last time out and tries to bounce back Tuesday for the St. Louis Cardinals in the second test of a four-game series versus the Minnesota Twins.

The ballclubs will resume the set with two games at Target Field.

Wacha allowed four runs and a season-high nine hits in 6 2/3 innings of a 4-3 loss at Colorado last Tuesday. He struck out a season-best 10 batters and walked one. Wacha has allowed four runs on three separate occasions this season and is 8-2 overall with a 2.45 earned run average in 12 starts.

The Cardinals won his first nine appearances and are 1-2 in the last three. Wacha is 2-1 with a 3.24 ERA in four home starts and has never faced the Twins.

Minnesota counters with Kyle Gibson and he is 4-4 with a 3.24 ERA through 12 starts. Gibson is 1-2 in his last six starts and the Twins have a 2-4 record in that time.

Gibson took the mound on Wednesday versus Kansas City and gave up five runs, four of which were earned, in six innings of a 7-2 defeat. The right-hander has allowed nine earned runs in his past two appearances and will tangle with St. Louis for the first time.

In five road starts this season, Gibson is 1-2 with a 3.82 ERA.

The Cardinals won their fourth straight game and ninth in 12 tries with Monday's 3-2 win over the Twins, as Mark Reynolds and Yadier Molina hit back- to-back home runs in the fourth inning for a 3-0 score. Molina had three hits and homered for the first time this season.

"It feels good," Molina said. "Am I a home run hitter? No. So I'm not worried about home runs."

John Lackey gave up runs in the seventh and eighth innings, and managed to rebound from an awful start for the victory. Lackey lasted eight innings, struck out six and walked one batter, one start after giving up 10 runs (8 earned) and 12 hits in four innings of an 11-3 loss at Colorado last Monday.

"I threw a lot of strikes, located my fastball pretty good and was able to get deep in the game," Lackey said.

Kevin Siegrist had no problem in the ninth for his second save.

St. Louis remained six games ahead of Pittsburgh for the NL Central lead and won for the fifth straight time at Busch Stadium, where it owns an MLB-best 25-7 ledger this season.

After Tuesday's game, the Cards will play eight in a row as the visitor against Minnesota, Philadelphia and Miami.

The Twins lost for the 10th time in the last 14 tries with Monday's defeat and fell 2 1/2 games behind Kansas City for AL Central bragging rights.

Kurt Suzuki had an RBI single in the seventh inning to get Minnesota on the boards, then top prospect Byron Buxton came home on a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Buxton legged out a triple for his first major league hit.

"I'm glad I got that out of the way," Buxton said. "It's a big relief."

Siegrist took the hill for the Cardinals in the ninth and hit Torii Hunter with two out. Suzuki lined out to end the threat for Minnesota, which ended a five-game slide with Sunday's 4-3 win at Texas.

Trevor May was saddled with the loss and allowed three runs in five innings.

"Today I didn't do my job as well as I should. It was a little frustrating," May said. "I left a couple of balls up to some guys, and a couple times I made good pitches and they hit them. That's kind of the name of the game. I wish I had a couple back, but that's how things go sometimes."

The Twins will return home for eight games versus St. Louis and the Chicago Cubs and White Sox.

Minnesota and St. Louis haven't played since 2009, when the Twins won two of three meetings at Busch Stadium. The Twins are 4-9 all-time in the Gateway City.