Lackey solid again as Cards top Twins
Veteran John Lackey turned in eight innings for the first time in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform and Yadier Molina hit his first home run in a calendar year as the Redbirds topped the Minnesota Twins 3-2 Monday night.
Lackey (5-4, 3.59) allowed just two late runs on five hits, striking out six and walking one in one of his best starts of the season and Kevin Siegrist nailed things down in the ninth, tossing a perfect frame for his second save of the season.
St. Louis (42-21) opened the scoring in the third when Jon Jay singled to left, scoring Randal Grichuk. In the next inning, the Cards went back-to-back for the first time this season.
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First, it was first baseman Mark Reynolds who took Minnesota starter Trevor May deep. Then, backstop Yadier Molina launched his first home run of the season – and his first since June 2014 – to put St. Louis up 3-0.
Minnesota (34-29) scored runs in both the seventh and eighth innings against the right-hander, one coming on a Kurt Suzuki RBI single and another via a Brian Dozier sac fly that cut the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2.
However, they could not capitalize and keep things rolling, sending St. Louis to a fourth-straight win.
A big part of that win was Molina, who went 3-for-4 and Grichuk, who added a pair of base knocks. No Twins hitter recorded more than one base hit in the contest.