The Cardinals find themselves six games back in the National League Central after losing a three-game series to the Detroit Tigers to start the week. They will now head home to take on the Chicago White Sox in a three-game series over the weekend. The year has not gone as well as the Cardinals had hoped for, but they get a struggling White Sox team this weekend, which hopefully they can win the series and perhaps even earn a sweep. The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs sit atop the division but play each other so perhaps they can gain some ground in the standings while the top two teams beat up on each other. Before the start of the three-game series with the White Sox, the Cardinals announced two roster moves today.
LHP – Steven Matz
The Cardinals have placed Matz on the 15-day injured list with a lower back strain. Matz has started six games for the Cardinals this year with a one-win two-loss record over 27.2 innings of work. He has a 6.18 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP on the year. During his time he has 13 free passes aand only has 17 strikeouts while opposing batters have a.327 batting average against him so far this year.
RHP – Kyle Leahy
The Cardinals recalled Leahy from the Memphis Red Birds. Leahy has appeared in one game already this season for the Cardinals where he took the loss allowing two earned runs on two hits in an inning and a third. He has pitched in eight games in Triple-A for the Memphis Redbirds with zero wins and two losses. He has a 5.84 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP while pitching in Memphis.
Wrap Up
The Cardinals have struggled to start the year and losing Matz won’t help, not due to how he has performed necessarily, but more due to the overall lack of depth in the rotation. Leahy will be back in the bullpen and hopefully, he can provide some quality innings when called upon. If not he will be right back in Triple-A with the Redbirds. Overall this Cardinals team needs a sweep this weekend to try and get back to .500 baseball and get things turned around before it’s too late.
