ST. LOUIS -- Injured Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse will take the mound on Thursday night for a rehabilitation start for the Class AA Springfield Cardinals. Lohse, out with a strained forearm flexor since leaving a start early on June 3, will be evaluated after Thursday's start.

"We're going to do the smart thing and give him the one [rehab start] and evaluate it and see if he needs another one," manager Tony La Russa said. "We'll give him as much as he needs."

Lohse originally injured his forearm when he was hit by a pitch on May 23. He felt ready to start on June 3 but lasted only two-plus innings and had to be removed and placed on the disabled list soon after. He threw a 60-pitch simulated game to Cardinals hitters on Friday and feels ready to go after the short bullpen session on Monday.

"It was a normal bullpen, nothing out of the ordinary," Lohse said. "It was nice and short. I felt good. I'm ready for Thursday."

Lohse hasn't heard what his pitch-count limit will be or what the plan is for after Thursday's start.

"We haven't gone over that yet," Lohse said. "I'm sure since I threw at least 60-something pitches in that simulated game, it will at least be that. Maybe more, hopefully. I'd like to go 70-75 if I can.

We'll see. I'll take it one step at a time. We have to see how it fits in because there's an off-day in there and I think [Adam] Wainwright is scheduled for my day, so we'll see how it all fits."

Lohse, who is on the disabled list for the first time in his career, is 4-4 with a 3.99 ERA in 10 starts.