The St. Louis Cardinals busted out the bats in last night’s 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, climbing back into a first-place tie in the NL Central with their rivals.
Nolan Gorman led the way, going 4-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI.
Jack Flaherty made his second start since returning from the injured list.
Flaherty had been out since the beginning of spring training after experiencing shoulder pain during the MLB lockout.
Last night, he went just three innings and allowed two runs.
Katie Woo, who covers the Cardinals for The Athletic, pointed out that Flaherty is still fresh off the injured list, reminding any Cards fan concerned about their team’s ace to recognize that he hasn’t been on the mound consistently in over a year.
Jack Flaherty's done after three innings. He walked five batters and threw more balls than strikes. He also hasn't pitched consistently in the majors for a year and is building up command/control on the fly (an organizational decision certainly worth questioning).
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) June 22, 2022
Flaherty Not At Full Strength Yet
This is a good reminder for anybody concerned about Flaherty’s health.
It’s interesting that the Cardinals brought him back so soon after just a few rehab starts down in Triple-A Memphis, but his velocity is still normal.
It’s just going to take a little bit of time for Flaherty to get back to full strength.
Woo also notes that he’s basically building up on the fly and echoes the sentiments of a lot of Cardinals fans who believe the organization made a questionable decision in bringing him back so soon.
But fans of the Cardinals should not be too concerned about this.
Lefty Steven Matz is making his way back, while the team is still getting solid starts out of Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, and Dakota Hudson.
The Cardinals also have plenty of starting pitching depth within the system if anything goes wrong.
But it’s only a matter of time before Flaherty works his way back to where he once was.
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