St. Louis Cardinals: Tim Cooney Expected to Start Thursday
With lefthanded starting pitcher Jaime Garcia unable to make his scheduled start on Thursday night against the San Diego Padres due to a groin injury suffered while running the bases last week, the St. Louis Cardinals will be forced to recall a spot starter for Thursday. All indications are that that starter will be lefty Tim Cooney, who was removed after two perfect innings in his Sunday start for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds in order to be big-league ready if necessary. Fellow lefty starter Tyler Lyons, who recently had a pair of effective starts for the Cardinals, is not an option, as he threw 6.2 innings in a start for Memphis on Tuesday.
If Cooney is indeed the guy, he will be making his second career big-league start after making his major-league debut earlier this season. Getting the start for the Cardinals on April 30 against the Philadelphia Phillies following Adam Wainwright’s season-ending injury, Cooney threw a rather ineffective 2.1 innings, allowing seven hits and a walk, which resulted in three earned runs. He was optioned to Triple-A the next day, and to his credit, he’s been very good there. In 14 starts for Memphis, Cooney has a 2.74 ERA, an 0.87 WHIP, and a .195 opponent batting average.
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With Garcia still avoiding the disabled list as he attempts to be ready for a Tuesday start against the Chicago Cubs, the Cardinals will need to remove another player from the roster to make room for Cooney. Manager Mike Matheny said the club was likely to subtract a position player. With utilityman Pete Kozma 4 for his last 7, backup first baseman Xavier Scruggs hitting .375 and playing regularly, and Tony Cruz being an essential member of the bench as the backup catcher, that would leave backup infielder Greg Garcia as the most obvious candidate for demotion. However, outfielder Jon Jay has recently had a recurrence of the wrist pain that has bothered him all season and may require a disabled list stint. Especially with Jay hitting just .223 this year, far below his career average of .289, it may be best to give him a couple weeks to hit the reset button, even if the injury isn’t a major concern.
Next: Cardinals Place Matt Belisle on DL, Recall Marcus Hatley