The Detroit Tigers planned on giving pitcher Jack Flaherty another chance to face his former team this week in St. Louis.
Reese Olson’s finger injury, however, forced Tigers manager A.J. Hinch to alter his rotation plans. After Olson landed on the 15-day injured list, Hinch pushed Flaherty’s next start back to Thursday against the Cleveland Guardians for the first game of a four-game set.
Hinch will orchestrate a bullpen start Wednesday afternoon when the Tigers conclude their three-game series at St. Louis. The Cardinals recorded an 11-4 victory on Monday before the Tigers answered with a 5-4 win on Tuesday.
“Probably the worst time to run a bullpen game is the first game of a four-game series,” Hinch said. “So you don’t want to empty your tank and have the bullpen get a free look for the beginning of a series.
“So we’ll run the bullpen game the last day here in St Louis.”
Detroit is expected to start Wednesday’s game with left-hander Brant Hurter (1-0, 2.35 ERA), who has yet to face St. Louis in his career.
The Tigers welcomed back catcher Jake Rogers to their lineup Tuesday. He had been on the injured list since April 8 with an oblique strain.
“They told me four to six weeks. I started feeling good toward that four-, five-week mark,” said Rogers, who went 0-for-3 in his first game back. “Kind of textbook, from that they told me. They were right on the money. I feel good and ready to play.”
To prevent more strain on his bullpen Monday, Hinch put catcher Tomas Nido on the mound to close out the one-sided loss. The Tigers subsequently designated Nido for assignment when Rogers came off the injured list.
Although Detroit used four relievers Tuesday, that didn’t change Hinch’s plan for the series finale.
“I have no idea how tomorrow is going to go,” Hinch said. “We’ll be fine. We’re going to go with everybody and hopefully make it a little bit chaotic for them.”
The Cardinals will counter with right-hander Andre Pallante (4-2, 4.11 ERA), who won his previous two starts while allowing four runs on 12 hits in 14 1/3 innings.
Pallante allowed two runs on seven hits in seven innings of a 10-3 victory over the Royals in Kansas City on Friday.
“He did a nice job,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “A lot of defensive swings. Not a whole lot of hard contact. The lefty (Vinnie Pasquantino) got him, but outside of that, he just got a lot of soft contact. Stayed on the ground. One of his better games of just getting ahead of guys.
“That’s a key for him. No walks and kept them soft on the ground.”
This will be Pallante’s first career appearance against the Tigers.
The Cardinals will look to rebound after suffering just their third loss in 16 games. Nolan Arenado broke a 3-for-30 slump while going 2-for-4 with a two-run homer on Tuesday.
“He took some really good swings,” Marmol said. “The homer was a big one because he’s been wanting to get underneath the ball and get something pull-side, being able to impact it. That’s a good one, we need to build off that, the line drive up the middle. So we say some positives there.”
Ivan Herrera went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run and an RBI on Tuesday to lift his batting average to .429.
–Field Level Media
