St. Louis @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 2, 2011 ) St. Louis 1, Tampa Bay 5

THE STORY: The Tampa Bay Rays probably don’t want the interleague portion of the season to end. Despite a few struggles of late, the Rays will go into their final regular-season game against the National League with an 11-6 record. Tampa Bay sends Jeremy Hellickson to the mound to face Kyle Lohse and the visiting St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber game of the three-game series Sunday afternoon. The Rays beat the Cardinals for the first time ever at Tropicana Field in their fifth try Saturday, and have now beaten all 30 teams at home. The Cardinals are 4-1 with one game left on their road trip before heading home for seven before the All-Star break.

TV: 1:40 p.m. ET, SunSports (Tampa Bay), FS Midwest (St. Louis)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jeremy Hellickson (7-7, 3.18 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Kyle Lohse (8-4, 2,78). Hellickson has four losses and a 4.74 ERA in his last four starts, but his team has scored one run during that span. He allowed four runs over six innings in his last start Monday against Cincinnati. Teams are batting .210 against Hellickson. The only St. Louis player who has faced him is Lance Berkman, who homered in his one at-bat. Lohse allowed four hits and no runs over five innings in his last start before a storm delayed the game and ended his day. It was his first victory since May 29. He had given up seven homers in his previous four June starts. Lohse is 5-2 against Tampa Bay with a 2.58 ERA in 59 1/3 innings, including his time in Minnesota. Johnny Damon is 5-for-13 lifetime against Lohse.

ABOUT THE RAYS (46-37): Casey Kotchman and Justin Ruggiano both started the season in the minor leagues, but have earned key roles for the Rays. Kotchman has not made an error at first base in 68 games and leads the team with a .336 average. Ruggiano has been in only 25 games, but is batting .317 with four homers and is playing a solid left field. Each had a big two-out hit in the 5-1 win Saturday. Damon has had two four-hit efforts in the last six games and is 11-for-26 in that stretch. Evan Longoria has cooled down a bit after a big series at Houston, going 3-for-18 the last five games.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS (45-39): St. Louis had enough hits Saturday (10), but was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Berkman hit his third homer in three games and that was all the Cardinals could produce. David Freese has continued his hot hitting since coming off the disabled list. Freese, who played third base Friday and first base Saturday, is 8-for-17 in the last five games. After a 1-for-15 mini-slump, catcher Yadier Molina has three hits in the last two games. Colby Rasmus, despite a big three-run homer in the first game of the series, is only 3-for-18 on the road trip.

FINAL PITCH: Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, who went on the disabled list June 20 with a fractured left wrist, is showing progress and could be back earlier than the expected 4-6 weeks, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report. The Cardinals are 5-6 without Pujols.