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St. Louis Cardinals Recall Sam Tuivailala; Place Trevor Rosenthal, Three Others on DL

By Patrick Karraker

Jul 4, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Sam Tuivailala (64) pitches to a Pittsburgh Pirates batter during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. The Pirates won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 4, 2016; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Sam Tuivailala (64) pitches to a Pittsburgh Pirates batter during the ninth inning at Busch Stadium. The Pirates won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Cardinals have already been forced to make a change to their Opening Day roster, and the regular season hasn’t even begun.

The St. Louis Cardinals made three expected roster moves on Thursday afternoon, placing righthanders Alex Reyes (Tommy John surgery) and John Gant (groin strain) and lefthander Tyler Lyons (knee) on the 10-day disabled list.

In an unexpected twist, though, they also placed righthander Trevor Rosenthal on the DL with a right lat strain. Rosenthal had been sidelined by the injury earlier this spring as he was trying to get stretched out as a starter, but he had since returned, pitching as recently as March 24, when he threw two innings against the Washington Nationals. Thus, the tentative 25-man roster that the Cardinals announced last weekend will not be the same exact one that goes to battle with the Chicago Cubs when the Cards open up their regular season schedule this Sunday.

Rosenthal’s setback is good news for hard-throwing righthander Sam Tuivailala, who was recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Thursday afternoon.

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The 24-year-old didn’t have a particularly good spring training (5.40 ERA, 1.50 WHIP in six appearances), and outside of a nine-outing unscored-upon streak during the summer of 2015, he hasn’t really shown much in the majors. Tuivailala has a career 5.47 ERA with a 2.00 WHIP in 24 2/3 big-league innings over three seasons.

With Rosenthal out, the Cardinals may be more incentivized to bring Lyons back during the early days of the regular season. The lefty swingman, who has been out since August of last year with a knee injury, made two Grapefruit League appearances during the late part of the schedule, getting knocked around in his first outing before throwing two scoreless frames in his second. Lyons theoretically could begin the season on a minor-league rehab assignment and return to the Cardinals within the first week of the season, since his DL stint will be backdated.

Next: Cards' AA Rotation Could Be Stacked with Prospects

This is the second year in a row that the Cardinals have dealt with unexpected injuries just days before the start of the regular season. Last year, Ruben Tejada–who was signed to serve as the team’s starting shortstop after a spring injury to Jhonny Peralta–suffered a quad injury during the team’s final spring training game and had to go on the DL. Backup catcher Brayan Peña also decided to have knee surgery on the eve of the regular season after slipping on the clubhouse stairs during the closing days of spring training.

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