(Busch Stadium) As the St. Louis Cardinals look to end their three game losing streak, Mike Matheny has made a couple of changes to help heal and jump start his lineup.
Eric Fryer will start in place of Yadier Molina behind the plate.
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“Rough travel night, he’s been beat up a little bit too,” shared Matheny. “Foul balls making his thumb sore, hit by a pitch in Washington. It adds up over time.”
After his first multi-hit game of the season last night, Greg Garcia will start this evening at third base.
“Keep him going, he’s been doing a nice job,” said Matheny. “A lot of excitement, a lot of energy. He takes a great at-bat. Right now, we just need to get it all put together.”
Garcia hit .444 (4-9) on the Cardinals recent roadtrip.
An additional change was made after a lineup with Matt Carpenter slated to bat third and play first base was posted. Jose Martinez will now start at first base and bat fifth.
“Jose’s going to be playing first because Carp’s too swollen today,” explained Matheny.
The injury occurred in the 1st inning of last night, when a ground ball caught Carpenter on his right, ring finger. After the bleeding stopped, he was able to stay in the game.
“It’s a good finger, if there is such a thing on your throwing hand,” continued Matheny. “But it’s still going to get in the way of his throws because of the swelling. So we’ve got to get that swelling down–they’re hopeful that he could be ready tomorrow and still hopeful, potentially, to be a bat off the bench today if we needed in a big situation. But he’s still getting treatment on it to find out exactly what we’re dealing with.”
Here's the updated #STLCards lineup pic.twitter.com/OLKxMDIqRX
— Brian Stull (@StullySTL) April 17, 2017
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
