As the St. Louis Cardinals wrap up a stretch of 20 games in 20 days, they will do so without Matt Carpenter. The team’s third baseman did not make the trip to Pittsburgh, remaining in St. Louis to rest from what Manager Mike Matheny said has been diagnosed as “extreme fatigue”.
“I don’t think it’s coincidence that we’re right in the middle of a 20-game stretch,” Matheny told Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com and the other media present in his pregame conversation. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the intensity of the types of games we’ve been playing or a coincidence [that this is a] guy who just does not back off. It’s full throttle all the time. We love how he goes about the game, but obviously there is a price to pay. It’s a hard pace to keep up. He’s been pushing and pushing and pushing just like a lot of these guys.”
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Carpenter left this past Sunday’s game due to dizziness and was found to be suffering from dehydration. He was back in the lineup the next day and in conversation with St. Louis Baseball Weekly prior to an interview on Tuesday said he was feeling much better.
Thursday was a planned off-day for Carpenter, who went 1-15 in the three games he played after Sunday.
Pete Kozma starts tonight third base for the Cardinals–who are now down to 11 position players as 13 pitchers have been kept on the active roster due to their recent workload.
CARDINALS
Peter Bourjos, CF
Kolten Wong, 2B
Matt Holliday, LF
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Mark Reynolds, 1B
Jason Heyward, RF
Yadier Molina, C
Pete Kozma, 3B
Michael Wacha, P
photo credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
