St. Louis Cardinals suffer big blow in rotation after losing Wainwright to season ending injury
This past weekend during the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday match-up against the Milwaukee Brewers, Cards right-handed pitcher Adam Wainwright suffered an apparent ankle injury during his at bat in the fifth inning. The team feared the worst after seeing him hobble out of the batter’s box. Following his scheduled MRI today, it’s being reported that the worse has happened and Wainwright will miss the remainder of the 2015 MLB season with a torn left Achilles injury.
Though the Cardinals found themselves playing through Wainwright’s absence before during their 2011 World Series championship run, due to the All-Star pitcher having to undergo Tommy John surgery, they knew before the start of the season that they would be without him and gave them time to fill his shoes with the addition of veteran pitchers Jake Westbrook, Kyle Lohse and Edwin Jackson.
It’s still pretty early in the season, so if the Cardinals were to make a much needed move in an attempt to replace their star pitcher, there’s really no rush — at least for now. With the likes of Tyler Lyons, Tim Cooney, Marco Gonzales, Jaime Garcia, Zach Petrick all looking fairly stellar in their system this year, the Cardinals have plenty of options to choose from if they want to keep things in house before considering trading for any star pitchers from other clubs.
Boasting a 12-5 record so far this season, the Cardinals are favorites to win the NL Central for the third year straight. Tonight, they play host to a sup-par Philadelphia Phillies team that hold a 7-12 record.