With three off days and a rain out mixed into the first eleven days of the season for the St. Louis Cardinals, at-bats for those on the bench have been hard to come by. As a result, Mark Reynolds see just his seventh plate appearance of the season today as he starts in place of Matt Adams at first base.
“He’s gonna have to play,” said Manager Mike Matheny of the decision. “I’ve said it before about Randal Grichuk too–we’re going to have to find those opportunities. Obviously, we’re not facing a lot of left-handed pitching, as far as starters are concerned but we’ve got to try and keep them sharp.”
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Grichuk had a pinch-hit opportunity on Wednesday night.
“It’s challenging when you have this many days off,” added Matheny. “Our everyday guys are kind of in a groove. They want to get rolling, they want to get into that everyday and trying to find time for the other guys is going to be a challenge, but we’re going to work it out the best we can.”
Peter Bourjos and Pete Kozma have one at-bat while Tony Cruz has yet to even make an appearance in a game.
“We’ve got to go with the best we’ve got right now and figure out ways to try and keep them sharp with their extra work and their occasional pinch hit at-bats and defensive replacement games,” said Matheny. “Right now, especially when we’re playing teams inside our division, we’ve got to go after it with everything we’ve got.”
CARDINALS
Matt Carpenter, 3B
Jason Heyward, RF
Matt Holliday, LF
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Mark Reynolds, 1B
Jon Jay, CF
Yadier Molina, C
Kolten Wong, 2B
John Lackey, P
BREWERS
Jean Segura, SS
Jonathan Lucroy, C
Ryan Braun, RF
Adam Lind, 1B
Aramis Ramirez, 3B
Khris Davs, LF
Scooter Gennett, 2B
Gerardo Parra, CF
Mike Fiers, P
photo credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
