The St. Louis Cardinals may be without their ace pitcher for the rest of the season after Adam Wainwright injured his left Achilles and lower ankle while batting Saturday against the Brewers. On Sunday morning, St. Louis placed Wainwright on the 15-day disabled list, and he is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday.
Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright expected to miss season with Achilles injury
St. Louis’ ace appears to be out for the year after injuring his ankle while batting Saturday against the Brewers.
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Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak told KMOX Sports in St. Louis he would “imagine” Wainwright will not pitch again this season, but the team wants to wait for the test Monday.
The three-time all-star and perennial Cy Young Award contender left the game (a 5-3 win for the Cardinals) after hitting a pop-up in the fifth inning. He hobbled out of the batters box unable to run and later told reporters: “I thought I got hit by something. If you look at the replay, I get out of the box and I looked back to think the catcher’s mask must of hit me or the bat must’ve hit me, something must’ve hit me. Crazy game.”
Wainwright had a 1.44 ERA through 25 innings pitched in 2015. He posted a 2.98 ERA for his nine-plus-year career with 7.6 strikeouts and 2.2 walks per nine innings. The Cardinals currently lead MLB in ERA by nearly a run at 1.99 with their rotation even better at 1.97. Michael Wacha (1.33 ERA), Carlos Martinez (1.35) and Lance Lynn (1.56) still give St. Louis a pretty good trio in its rotation.
With catcher Yadier Molina also injured -- his more of a day-to-day deal after taking a foul tip to his right knee on Friday -- catcher Cody Stanley has been called up from the minors.
Carlos Villanueva, Marco Gonzalez and Tyler Lyons may be the most likely options to replace Wainwright in the rotation, Ben Humphrey of Viva El Birdos writes. Right-hander Villanueva is currently in the bullpen and may be a "stopgap" measure. Left-hander Gonzales would have been next in line, but was himself placed on the seven-day minor league disabled list on Wednesday with shoulder tightness. Lefty Lyons has a 4.61 ERA and 3.90 FIP in three minor league starts, Humphrey notes.
The Cardinals led the NL Central with a 12-4 record entering play Sunday.
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