Cardinals visit Rangers for first time since 2011 WS

The last time the Texas Rangers hosted the St. Louis Cardinals, the Rangers earned a win in Game 5 of the 2011 World Series and exited what was then known as Rangers Ballpark in Arlington one win away from the first world championship in franchise history.

The stakes will be far lower Friday night, when the Rangers -- who never got that win in 2011 and are still seeking their first championship -- will host the Cardinals in a rare interleague series.

The Rangers are expected to utilize their former closer, right-hander Jose Leclerc, as an opener against the Cardinals' Opening Day starter, right-hander Miles Mikolas. Leclerc will likely give way to Adrian Sampson after one inning.

The Rangers enjoyed their most lopsided win in more than four years on Thursday afternoon, when former Cardinal Lance Lynn tossed seven solid innings and earned the victory in a 16-1 rout of the host Kansas City Royals.

The visiting Cardinals experienced life on the other side of a one-sided game Thursday, when they fell to the Atlanta Braves, 10-2.

The Rangers' win was their second straight victory following a five-game losing streak. Texas has not won more than two straight since a four-game winning streak from April 14-17.

"We were hurting, so getting these last two wins was big going home," Lynn told reporters afterward. "For me, I'm always looking to either make the good keep going or stop the bad. It was just good to end the trip the way we did."

The Cardinals will be looking to reverse a slide that began May 2 and deepened against the Braves, who won the final two games of the three-game series. St. Louis has lost five of six and 10 of 13 since a five-game winning streak.

"The reality is right now, no one's going to feel sorry for us," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said Thursday night. "We're not going to feel sorry for ourselves. We're moving forward. That's as simple as I can make it. We're going to move forward from here on. We're not going to get stuck in whatever this might be."

The "start" for Leclerc (0-0, 6.32 ERA) will be the first of his big league career in 136 appearances. He was demoted from the closing role after posting a 10.80 ERA in April but has allowed one run over five innings in four appearances this month. He last pitched Sunday, tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings in the Rangers' 15-5 loss to the Houston Astros.

Sampson (0-3, 5.25) also made his most recent appearance Sunday, when he took the loss after giving up six runs (five earned) over 3 1/3 innings. Neither Leclerc nor Sampson has ever faced the Cardinals.

The start against the Rangers will be a homecoming of sorts for Mikolas (4-3, 3.83), who went 2-5 with a 6.44 ERA in 10 starts for Texas in 2014 before heading to Japan for three seasons.

Mikolas, who led the National League in wins last year in his first season back in the U.S., took a hard-luck loss in his most recent outing Saturday, when he allowed two runs over seven innings as the Cardinals fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1. He has never faced the Rangers.

The Cardinals will be visiting Texas in the regular season for the second time, and the first time since 2004, when St. Louis took two of three.

Both teams have one player remaining from the squads that squared off in the 2011 World Series. Yadier Molina remains the Cardinals' starting catcher, while Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus was placed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday due to a strained left hamstring.

--Field Level Media