The St. Louis Cardinals put on a pretty good show in Pittsburgh over the weekend, with an 18-run outburst capping off a three-game sweep over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
However, despite their success at PNC Park, a couple of issues emerged for them on the injury front.
Outfielder Dylan Carlson was removed from Saturday’s 5-4 win with a left hamstring issue and has been placed on the 10-Day Injured List, retroactive to Sunday.
Pitcher Steven Matz has also been placed on the IL, joining the 15-Day pitchers’ list, exiting Sunday’s start after having thrown a total of just four pitches.
The Cardinals announced the injuries today on Twitter.
LHP Steven Matz (left shoulder impingement) has been placed on the 15-day IL.
OF Dylan Carlson (left hamstring strain) has been placed on the 10-day IL, retroactive to May 22.
RHP Angel Rondón has been optioned to Memphis (AAA).
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 23, 2022
Injury Bug Hits The Cards
This is bad news for the Cardinals, who already are without Tyler O’Neill, Jack Flaherty, and Alex Reyes, three key contributors from a season ago.
Matz has been somewhat of a mixed bag for St. Louis this year, having posted a 3-3 record and 6.03 ERA through his first nine starts.
Carlson was off to a poor start before turning it on in May.
He’s hitting .314 so far this month.
As a result of the injuries to Matz and Carlson, St. Louis has recalled pitcher Matthew Liberatore and outfielder Lars Nootbaar from Triple-A Memphis.
The Cardinals also announced the demotion of pitcher Angel Rondon, who took over for Matz after he left the game, giving the Cards five scoreless innings and earning the win.
St. Louis called up reliever Junior Fernandez in a corresponding move.
More importantly, the Cardinals are going to be without a few key contributors for a little while.
Liberatore figures to take Matz’s spot in the rotation, while Nootbaar will likely get some more chances in the outfield with both Carlson and O’Neill on the shelf.
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