Things started off well for St. Louis Wednesday night in Detroit as Skip Shumaker led off the game with a home run and Rick Ankiel followed with another shot 2 batters later. Ankiel would add another solo shot in the 5th, but it was not enough as the Cards would blow the lead 4 times-including 2 seperate blown saves by Jason Isringhausen and Kyle McClellan. Kyle Lohse was knocked around, giving up 5 runs on 11 hits over 4 innings (though Tigers batters have owned Lohse in his career, so that was to be expected). Rain delayed the game in the 5th and it was not until nearly 1am that Gary Sheffield knocked in the winning run and the Tigers left 8-7 winners.
Getaway day was not much better for the Cardinals, who lost 3-2 in the 10th inning on a bases-loaded walk by Mike Parisi. Despite the disappointing end to the game, there was a silver lining for Cardinals fans as Todd Wellemeyer and Albert Pujols had successful returns to the lineup. Wellemeyer pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing only 4 hits and not walking anyone. Pujols, meanwhile, was 4-4 from the DH spot and drove in a run.
The Cards, who find themselves 4.5 games behind the division-leading Cubs, will try and build off these positives and avenge last week’s embarrasing sweep by the Royals. Joel Pineiro (2-3, 3.86 ERA) will head to the hill tonight at 7:10pm (Central time) against Kansas City righty Gil Meche (5-8, 4.91 ERA).
