St. Louis @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Jul 1, 2011 ) St. Louis 5, Tampa Bay 3

THE STORY: The St. Louis Cardinals won only one of their first six games without injured slugger Albert Pujols, but they have turned it around with four straight wins on the road. The Cardinals hope to continue their spotless trip when they send Kyle McClellan to the mound against Jeff Niemann and the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night. St. Louis is 24-20 on the road and the Rays are 19-21 at home. Tampa Bay has lost three of four after an impressive 5-1 road trip, and their frustration boiled over in the eighth inning Friday when three players and manager Joe Maddon were ejected.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, SunSports (Tampa Bay), FS Midwest (St. Louis).

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jeff Niemann (2-4, 5.58 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Kyle McClellan (6-4, 4.02). Niemann was pounded his last start by Houston, allowing seven hits and five runs in three innings. He had pitched six shutout innings his previous outing against Milwaukee after coming off the disabled list. He has never faced St. Louis, but is 3-2 in interleague play. Lance Berkman is 2-for-2 with a home run against Niemann. McClellan also struggled in his last start, giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings against Toronto. He allowed one run in seven innings in his previous start against Philadephia. Left-handed hitters are batting .189 against McClellan and right-handed hitters .297. He faced Tampa Bay once in 2008, allowing one run in one inning and blowing a save. McClellan is 0-3 in interleague play.

ABOUT THE RAYS (45-37): After a stretch in which Tampa Bay scored 55 runs in nine games, the Rays have produced 10 in their last four. Casey Kotchman and Matt Joyce have been solid hitters at home, both batting better than .330, but the rest of the team is at .235 or lower. Evan Longoria is batting .200 at home and B.J. Upton .159. The Rays are batting .260 on the road and .223 at home. The good news is Longoria continues to heat up. The All-Star third baseman is 11-for-28 with 14 RBIs the last seven games.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS (45-38): St. Louis is getting offense from different sources, scoring 25 runs in their last four games. Colby Rasmus has three home runs and seven RBIs his last four games, and Ryan Theriot is 5-for-15 with a pair of RBIs in his last three. Lance Berkman has broken out of a brief slump (1-for-15) with two homers and a double in the last two games. The Cardinals hope to get Matt Holliday going again. He is batting .322 despite a 4-for-24 stretch. Fernando Salas has done the job after taking over as the closer with 14 saves in 16 opportunities. He has 37 strikeouts and 10 walks in 38 innings.

FINAL PITCH: Cardinals third baseman David Freese is 6-for-15 on the road trip, which is no surprise. Freese is batting .435 on the road with 13 RBIs, and .212 at home with two RBIs.