The St. Louis Cardinals needed a breather, and Gordon Graceffo gave them one.
With the rotation banged up and the bullpen taking the brunt of the workload, St. Louis turned to Graceffo for a start in Thursday’s series finale with Baltimore. The move came after Andre Pallante and Hunter Dobbins were both sidelined, and after Michael McGreevy struggled on Wednesday, the Cardinals were forced into a bullpen game.
Graceffo, a former minor league starter who has been one of St. Louis’ most dependable relievers this season with a 2.98 ERA, handled the assignment cleanly. He worked three perfect innings and struck out four, giving the Cardinals exactly what they were after: some length.
That mattered. Even three innings can make a difference in a bullpen game, and Graceffo’s outing spared the rest of the relief corps from more heavy lifting.
Bullpens can get emptied fast in these situations, but St. Louis at least avoided that kind of scramble on Thursday.
The Cardinals have not brought in a replacement starter for Dobbins, and Quinn Mathews is already in the rotation filling in for Pallante. They also did not add anyone from outside the organization. Instead, they asked Graceffo to bridge the gap, and he delivered.
Help should be on the way soon enough. The rotation is set to return to its normal order on Friday, when Mathews starts against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pallante was expected to miss only a short stretch, so he could be back as early as next Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That matters because the staff has been stretched hard, especially lately. If Mathews can give St. Louis some length on Friday and Kyle Leahy can get at least five innings on Saturday, the bullpen should get a much-needed reset.
Graceffo’s three-inning stint was brief, but it was effective, and it came at the right time. He exited with a 3-0 lead, which was exactly the kind of cushion the Cardinals needed after dropping five straight entering Thursday.
That skid included Sunday’s ugly walk-off loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, when St. Louis let a 4-0 lead slip away despite having two outs in the ninth.
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