By MATT PIKE
Ryan Kreidler’s RBI double off in the eighth inning scored Luke Keaschall to complete the Minnesota Twins’ comeback in a 5-4 win against the St. Louis Cardinals at Target Field, handing the Redbirds a series loss.
Alec Burleson opened the scoring with his 13th home run of the season in the fourth inning for the Cardinals. Burleson has homered in five of his past six games and has a career-high 14-game hitting streak In the bottom half, the Twins took the lead though scoring two runs in the inning as Victor Caratini hit a two-run home run, driving in Josh Bell to put Minnesota up 2-1 at the end of four innings.
St. Louis displayed its power again in the sixth inning taking the lead back on JJ Wetherholt's two-run home run, his 10th of the season driving in Nathan Church. Then in the seventh inning, Wetherholt extended the lead with an RBI single, bringing home José Fermín, for a 4-2 lead.
After the RBI single though, the Twins began their rally in the bottom half of the seventh as Kreidler had a pinch-hit single and scored the tying run for Minnesota in the inning on an RBI single by Byron Buxton, cutting the Cardinals lead to one run. An RBI single from Royce Lewis drove in Kreidler to tie the game 4-4 at the end of seven innings. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Kreidler delivered his RBI double to center field, bringing home Keaschall for a 5-4 lead.
Kreidler also made a diving stop and throw from shortstop in the ninth to get Fermín at first after a successful replay challenge by Minnesota manager Derek Shelton. Yoendrys Gómez earned his sixth save of the season and fifth with the Twins. St. Louis reliever George Soriano took his first loss, falling to 3-1, giving up one run and three hits in 1.2 innings, striking out three.
Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy has given up two runs or fewer 10 times in 14 starts this season but hasn’t won since May 8th. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. At the plate, Wetherholt was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI's. Church was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Burleson was 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI.
Next, St. Louis returns home for a three-game series with San Diego. Dustin May (4-6, 4.21 ERA, 66K's) starts for the Cardinals while the Padres have not announced a scheduled starter. First pitch is at 6:45pm, coverage begins at 6:35 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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