Cardinals carry positive vibes into series opener vs. Twins

The St. Louis Cardinals landed in Minnesota with their confidence sky high.

A 5-4 loss in Thursday's series finale at the New York Mets did little to dampen the Cardinals' spirits. They had earned victories in their previous six games in a row, and they will look to get back to their winning ways when they open a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in Minneapolis.

"You look at this year, the energy is still good," Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson said. "We won a series against a good team. Yeah, we felt we could have swept them, but the energy is still good.

"We are in a good spot. If you look at the last couple of years, if we don't sweep a team we feel like we should, it's just different. ... We'll bounce back from this one and move on to Minnesota."

The Cardinals will encounter a Twins club that is coming off an 11-0 loss against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday. Minnesota lost two of three at Detroit and has dropped six of its past eight contests.

Twins manager Derek Shelton said he doesn't want his players to dwell on Thursday's shutout, in which they managed only five singles and did not register an extra-base hit.

"We were kind of underneath the ball a little bit," Shelton said. "You know, it wasn't for lack of approach. We did a good job of running the pitch count up (against the Tigers' starting pitcher, Keider Montero). We just couldn't string anything together."

Minnesota will try for better success on Friday against Cardinals right-hander Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.42 ERA), who will make his 13th start of the season. He has drawn a no-decision in each of his past three starts, including his most recent outing last Friday, when he allowed three runs on five hits in four innings against the Cincinnati Reds as St. Louis won 10-3.

Leahy has made two career relief appearances vs. the Twins, and this will be his first start against them. He is 0-0 with a 10.80 ERA in those appearances, allowing two runs in 1 2/3 innings.

The Twins will open the series with right-hander Joe Ryan (4-3, 3.07 ERA), who will make his 15th start this season. Ryan has 84 strikeouts in 76 1/3 innings.

Ryan has pitched at least six innings in each of his past six starts. He drew a no-decision in his most recent outing Saturday against the Kansas City Royals, as he allowed one run on six hits in six innings of the Twins' 3-2 loss.

In two career starts against the Cardinals, Ryan is 0-1 with an 8.00 ERA. He has allowed eight runs on 14 hits in nine innings.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said he wants his players to be aggressive at the plate. He was pleased with their mindset Thursday, even though they lost.

"I like the way our guys played," Marmol said. "We took some good at-bats. We were aggressive early, we were able to punch back early. Our group has done it a lot this year."

--Field Level Media