MLB
Martinez Could Miss Second Straight Start
The Cardinals sent Luke Gregorson to the 10-day disabled list Tuesday, where he will join four other Cardinal pitchers. The most notable of the four is Carlos Martinez. Martinez went on the DL with a right lat strain last Friday. He was scheduled to come back on Sunday, but will undergo another MRI Thursday, meaning he will most likely miss his second straight start this weekend.
Carlos Martinez in 2018
Martinez has undoubtedly been the Cardinals’ Ace this season. Before his injury, he posted a 3-2 record in eight games. Over those eight games, Carlos has a 1.62 ERA, with 47 strikeouts in 50 innings.
Carlos had a rough opening day start, going just 4.1 innings, allowing five runs, four of which were earned. Since then though, he has been outstanding. In every start after opening day he’s went at least six innings and hasn’t allowed more than one run, with the exception of his last start against Minnesota. In that start he threw five innings and only gave up two runs.
What it Means for the Cards
Possibly missing an Ace for two straight starts would hurt any team, let alone this Cardinals team that is struggling to score runs to win games. The Redbirds will hope to get a quality start out of John Gant, who will take the mound in place of Martinez if he does in fact miss his second straight start.
Should Gant give the Cards a quality start, it would be his first of 2018. The closest he came was on May 7th against Minnesota, when he went 5.1 innings and allowed four runs. His 1-1 record and 4.15 ERA don’t provide as much confidence as what would be had in Martinez, but he is capable of keeping St. Louis in the game.
Scenarios Dependent on the MRI Results
If the MRI should show anything more serious than what the team originally thought, it could really shake some things up in the rotation. It would be conceivable that Gant would go ahead and make the starts that Martinez would miss, unless his performance doesn’t improve. In that case, the Cardinals have a couple options at the minor league level, including Austin Gomber and Jack Flaherty, who is currently on the big league roster after making the start last night.
Another scenario would be if Waino doesn’t come back, Flaherty may take his spot for the foreseeable future. If that happens Gant or Gomber may hold Martinez’ spot until Alex Reyes is ready. When Reyes comes up, he could take over for Carlos, rather than for Weaver, sending whoever was in that spot back to the minors.
Of course, all of this is dependent on the results of Martinez’ MRI and the seriousness of his injury. Best case scenario, he does come off the DL as planned and makes the start Sunday, though that looks unlikely. If he does in fact miss his second straight start, he could still potentially come back for his next. This seems to be the most likely situation and wouldn’t be the worst thing for St. Louis. A well rested Carlos Martinez will be a huge asset, along with a healthy Reyes and a surging Miles Mikolas.
This article was originally written by former TSJ101SPORTS MLB Department editor and writer Canyon Clark. Due to systems modalities, the article has been assigned to the author tag designation “Former Writers”.
