”I have lots of confidence that he’s going to commit himse

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After Yadier Molina’s two homers led the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-2 win at Milwaukee Saturday , manager Mike Matheny spoke hopefully of a bounce the win would create.

His instinct proved correct Sunday when St. Louis capped a rough road trip with an 8-2 rout that allowed it to salvage a split of a four-game series with the National League Central leaders and pushed it within 4 1/2 games of the Brewers.

The Cardinals open a six-game homestand Monday night in Busch Stadium with the second of four straight series against first-place teams, facing the Cleveland Indians.

St. Louis (40-36) scored just seven runs in its first three games in Milwaukee, whiffing 34 times, with 15 occurring in a 2-1 loss Friday night. It fanned another 11 times on Sunday but mixed in 10 hits, including a three-run homer by Jose Martinez to cap a five-run fourth inning that turned momentum for good.

While the Cardinals enter the series with hope that they are turning things around, Cleveland (43-33) did so during the last week. Its 12-2 rout Sunday of Detroit was its seventh straight win, moving it eight games ahead of the Tigers and Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.

The Indians also appear to have the mound advantage for the series opener with Mike Clevinger (6-2, 3.00 ERA) against spot starter John Gant (1-2, 4.39).

Clevinger’s last start was one of his best this year. He notched 10 strikeouts Tuesday night in 7 2/3 innings of a 6-3 win over the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Clevinger has lasted at least six innings in five straight starts , solidifying his place in a deep rotation.

“His fastball had really good life,” Chicago manager Rick Renteria told mlb.com. “He was keeping the ball down below the zone. You saw him get a lot of checked swings on some of his breaking pitches … he’s got a pretty good repertoire and was able to command consistently in the zone consistently throughout the whole ballgame.”

Gant is starting in place of Michael Wacha, who took his 8-2 record to the disabled list last week after suffering an oblique strain Wednesday in Philadelphia. The former Atlanta Braves prospect is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA in three starts this year, leading some to wonder why Dakota Hudson (10-2 at Triple-A Memphis) or Daniel Poncedeleon was not picked to replace Wacha.

In his last start, Gant lasted 5 1/3 innings on May 25 in Pittsburgh, losing 8-1 despite fanning seven and walking none. He was charged with four hits and three runs.

Gant has made one career start against Cleveland, lasting two innings in a 2016 game for the Braves and permitting one run and three hits with two strikeouts.

Carlos Martinez (3-4, 3.24) starts Tuesday night for St. Louis opposite Corey Kluber (11-3, 2.10). Jack Flaherty (3-2 , 2.50) faces the Indians’ Shane Bieber (2-0, 2.45) in a battle of rookie right-handers on Wednesday night.

Antti Raanta handled injuries, a scorpion infestation and a minor car wreck in his first year as a starting NHL goaltender.

Battling through all that earned him a three-year contract that makes him the Arizona Coyotes‘ franchise goalie for the foreseeable future. Raanta is scheduled to earn $12.75 million over the life of the deal that keeps him under contract through the 2020-21 season.

The 28-year-old Raanta is 21-16-6 with a 2.24 goals-against average and .930 save percentage in 46 games after three separate injuries threatened to derail his season. In 140 career games that included backing up with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers, the Finn has a 2.30 GAA and .922 save percentage.

”He stops the puck,” general manager John Chayka said on a conference call Friday. ”He just seems to, when he’s on, he’s locked in and he’s reading everything and making the game look easy. You put up his numbers both this season and over his career, he’s a high, high-end goaltender in terms of stopping the puck.”

Raanta would have been an unrestricted free agent this summer. Instead , he’s glad to be in Arizona long term and hopes to earn another big contract when this one expires at age 32.

”I want to be playing a lot, I want to be playing at a really good level all the time and I want to get us in the playoff picture and I want to be successful in there, also,” Raanta said. ”I think getting the three-year deal, it’s perfect for everybody right now.”

With Raanta playing well and improvements under first-year coach Rick Tocchet, Arizona is 16-8-2 since Feb. 12 after losing 42 of its first 55 games. Raanta is 9-1-0 with a 1.30 GAA and .959 save percentage and two shutouts in his past 10 appearances.

That’s the play Chayka expected when the Coyotes acquired Raanta and center Derek Stepan from the New York Rangers last offseason in a trade that meant giving up the seventh overall pick and defensive prospect Anthony DeAngelo.

Tocchet said last month that he wished Raanta came into training camp in better shape, something Chayka alluded to.

”I have lots of confidence that he’s going to commit himself to being an NHL starter: taking care of your body and doing the right things to play 60-plus games,” Chayka said. ”I think this year was a great learning experience for him. I think he’s a dedicated guy. I think he’s understood what it takes now on a personal level for himself, what it’s like to be a starter.”

Raanta believes he can adjust his offseason preparations to be more prepared to go next season and beyond.

”I think it was kind of a growing process for me also – the first year playing a lot , being the No. 1 guy and it’s a big mental adjustment from being a backup to start playing more,” Raanta said. ”It’s going to be good for me to know what it takes to play lots of games and it’s going to be good for me to kind of see what I need to do more in the summertime, what I want to improve, and come back stronger next year.”

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