Swollen Ankle for Piscotty

(Busch Stadium) It took Stephen Piscotty longer than usual to walk across the clubhouse to locker following the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 loss in 12 innings to Kansas City on Wednesday night. Not so much because of the loss, but rather his swollen left ankle.

“It’s painful, but there’s nothing serious to it,” shared Piscotty. “I fouled a pitch off in the 6th inning and then when I dove for the ball in that last inning, it hit me right in the same spot. Kind of double swelling going on here.”

Pictures were negative and Piscotty underwent icing and other anti-swelling treatment after the game.

The diving attempt came in the top of the 12th inning on a shallow fly ball down the right field line. The Cardinals challenged the call of a fair ball, which was correctly upheld.

“The interesting thing about that–I didn’t want to catch it,” said Piscotty. “I was hoping that it’d be foul, if I catch it, he tags and scores. Did that in the minor leagues, I remembered, and it cost our team a game because I laid out for a ball. I honestly wanted it to drop. It was right on the line and unfortunately for me and the team it was fair.”

Piscotty also had a home run in the bottom of the 10th to tie the game back up at 2-2 after Kansas City had scored in the top of the inning.

“It’s just a good example of us fighting back–it’s something that we’re going to continue to do all season long,” he said. “You don’t always win them, but it’s great to get that effort.”

MARTINEZ MONITORED

–Carlos Martinez exited the game after allowing a lead-off single in the 7th inning. Although the game was scoreless and he was only at 89 pitches, Mike Matheny explained the decision was in part based on his last two outings.

“His last two games we ran him deep in his pitch counts so we had to be careful with him today,” explained Matheny. “It stood out that he went 119 and 110 back to back. We keep real close track of that in the minor leagues. There’s a certain ‘do not pass zone’, we don’t necessarily have that here but we’re going to keep close watch. You’re talking about a young pitcher here still too that we need to be careful with.”

Martinez, who struck out three and allowed 8 hits in his scoreless outing, agreed with the decision.

“I understand–they’re obviously trying to protect my arm, a good arm and it was a surprise to me but I think it was kind of mutual,” he said with the help of translator Alexandra Noboa. “It’s a really long season and right now we’re taking it day by day and obviously situations come up like this.”

Martinez has allowed just two earned runs over his last four starts (28.1 IP) for a 0.64 ERA but has not received a decision in the last three of those games.

OTHER NOTES

–Kolten Wong was dealing with a cramp, but was walking better after the game. He extended his hit streak to five games.

–Greg Garcia set a career-high with 8 assists in the game.

–The Cardinals committed at least 3 errors for the 5th time this season.

photo credit: Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports,  Bill Greenblatt/UPI