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| | Thursday, April 20 McGwire to end seven-game absence | ||||||
| ESPN.com news services ST. LOUIS -- Mark McGwire returned to the St. Louis Cardinals lineup Thursday night after missing seven games with a lower back strain.
McGwire walked in his first at-bat against the Padres' Brian Boehringer. McGwire had a full workout Wednesday, including batting and fielding practice and base running, and woke up Thursday feeling fine. "He came in ready to go," manager Tony La Russa said. "Now that we've got him back, the key is to keep him there." The Cardinals entered Thursday's game against San Diego 5-4 without McGwire and 5-1 with him. He was batting .222 with three homers and six RBI. The Padres' Tony Gwynn was out of the lineup after starting for the first time in eight games Wednesday. Gwynn, who has been bothered by an injured left knee, was 0-for-4 with a run-scoring groundout.
He was batting .150 in 20 at-bats. |  | ||||||
