With the St. Louis Cardinals playing a day-night doubleheader today in New York against the Mets, the arrival of an additional pitcher to serve as the 26th man under MLB rules for such occasion was expected.
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The placement of reliever Trevor Rosenthal on the disabled list was not.
Diagnosed with right shoulder inflammation in his rotator cuff, Rosenthal most recently pitched on Sunday, striking out two batters while allowing two hits and three walks–but no runs, in one inning of work.
“There’s been progress,” commented Mike Matheny prior to that game on his reliever. “When he’s not giving up free bases, that’s progress. That’s his nemesis. Guys are going to get base hits–he gave up a base hit yesterday, we can live with that if he’s challenging guys. I think the main thing is pounding the strike zone, using your stuff and trusting it. Then with that, you can add on. And the add on is swing and miss pitches, it’s going to be secondary pitches, it’s going to be strikeouts but first things first is he’s got to control the strike zone. I seem him taking steps in the right direction.”
Both Rosenthal and the team have maintained that health was not an issue or cause for the right-hander’s struggles this season, in particular the last two months in which he’s allowed 15 earned runs in 16.1 innings pitched.
Left-hander Dean Kiekehefer has been recalled to take Rosenthal’s spot on the active roster, while righty Sam Tuivailala has been brought up as the extra arm for the second game of the doubleheader.
photo credit: Bill Greenblatt/UPI
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