Jack Flaherty is set to make his return to the big league club on Wednesday afternoon when he will start against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Read below to see what is new with Flaherty and the current series.
It will be 255 days since Jack Flaherty made his last appearance for the St. Louis Cardinals. October 3 of last year was the last time we saw Flaherty take the mound for the Cardinals, in one inning of relief against the Chicago Cubs.
It will be 301 days since he made his last start for the Cardinals, dating back to August 8th against the Milwaukee Brewers. Flaherty has made two rehab starts this year, one in Springfield and one in Memphis. He was set to make a second start in Memphis but the team and Flaherty reversed course and he is scheduled to throw 60 pitches in the start tomorrow.
With the starting rotation struggling to find a consistent set of players, Flaherty’s return could help this team in the long run. The Cardinals are in a spot to win the division and make a deep postseason run. That will not happen without Flaherty or a consistent starting rotation.
St. Louis Cardinals rallied late for the win
For the first five innings of Monday night’s game, it looked like the St. Louis Cardinals would drop two-straight games against lesser NL Central opponents. The Pittsburgh Pirates jumped out to an early 5-0 lead over the Cardinals on the first MLB start by Zack Thompson. The Pirates hit two home runs in the first five innings, including a three-run home run by Michael Chavis in the fifth to put Pittsburgh up 5-0.
The rookie, Brendan Donovan, continues to play at a high level when he doubled in the fifth to score Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill. Donovan continues to impress everyone with his play and continues to bump his batting average up after a 3-4 night. Coming into the season, many would have expected Nolan Gorman to be the top rookie but it has been Donovan with his .310 average.
The long-awaited return of Dylan Carlson paid off with his three-run home run in the sixth inning. Carlson tied the game on his opposite-field home run from the right side of the plate. The long ball sparked a wave of emotions through the stadium and breathed new life into the game.
BRAND. NEW. BALLGAME. Dylan Carlson ties it up with a three-run jack!!!
TV: Bally Sports Midwest
Stream: https://t.co/Z4di9iqd0f#STLCards pic.twitter.com/D9Uehb8gxx— Bally Sports Midwest (@BallySportsMW) June 14, 2022
As soon as the new game had started, Goldschmidt continued his case as to why he should be considered for the National League MVP, with a solo home run.
Who else than NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt for the lead pic.twitter.com/kUekaMEEnb
— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) June 14, 2022
Up 6-5 in the eighth inning, the Cardinals would add on an insurance run with a sacrifice to third by Andrew Knizner which scored Carlson and Knizner moved to second on the throwing error by Yu Chang. The 7-5 score would stand as the final score of the game after a scoreless inning by Ryan Helsley.
Expectations of the Cardinals team
The expectations continue to grow throughout the season and continue to grow as the team gets healthy. The front office could be faced with a few difficult decisions in the coming weeks and more so as we head towards the trade deadline.
Paul DeJong who is currently in Triple-A Memphis is starting to heat up in June. The front office and coaching staff are most definitely looking at his performance, which will make their decision much harder. At this point, the front office needs to cut ties and trade DeJong at this point. The additions of Gorman and Donovan have been huge and in large part, a reason for the success of the ball club lately.
The Cardinals need to stay healthy and extend their lead in the NL Central Division. With the Milwaukee Brewers being injured and in a rough patch as of late, the Cardinals can really do some damage in the next few weeks as they head towards the All-Star break.
