The Cardinals got a win Thursday, but it came with a price that could linger.
Blaze Jordan left the game in the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles after making an awkward-looking tag at third base and needing help getting up. He was taken out with what appeared to be a lower-body injury, and Nolan Gorman stepped in at the hot corner.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the early read is Jordan will miss time because of a left foot/ankle injury.
Goold wrote, "Blaze Jordan is being helped off the field by Oli Marmol and an athletic trainer. He is not putting much weight on his left foot as he gets assistance down the stairs and into the dugout," and added, "Cardinals initial feel is Blaze Jordan will miss some time as a result of this.
Severity is being determined now."
The timing is rough for St. Louis.
The club entered Thursday trying to avoid a three-game sweep by Baltimore after being swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, a stretch that had pushed the Cardinals into a five-game losing streak. They did snap it with a 7-5 victory, but they still sit one game under .500 at 67-68.
Jordan had been in the middle of a solid first run in the majors. He came into the day hitting .246/.276/.366 with two home runs, 25 RBIs, eight doubles and four triples in 57 games. Before exiting Thursday, he went 1-for-3 with his third career big league homer and drove in three runs.
If Jordan does have to miss time, the Cardinals have at least a couple of familiar options at third base. Gorman is already on the big league roster, and Ramón Urías is there too.
The injuries have started to stack up after a season in which St. Louis did a good job staying relatively healthy. Jordan now joins Andre Pallante, Masyn Winn and Hunter Dobbins on the recent injury list, and that’s a tough group to lose all at once.
It has been a gritty year for the Cardinals, but this has been an especially hard week.
In Other News...
Cardinals Got An Unexpected Rotation Lift At The Perfect Time
In the middle of a patchwork stretch in the rotation, Gordon Graceffo gave the Cardinals exactly the kind of stopgap start they needed. With Andre Pallante and Hunter Dobbins sidelined, St. Louis turned to a bullpen game, and Graceffo handled the opening three innings with ease, retiring every hitter he faced while striking out four.
The bigger-picture plan is more practical than dramatic: the Cardinals are not bringing in another starter right now, and they expect Pallante back soon. For the moment, Quinn Mathews is slated to take Pallantes turn, with the club hoping for length from both Mathews and Kyle Leahy in the coming starts so the bullpen can catch its breath. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Have One Clear Problem Standing Between Progress And Contention
A promising early run has given way to a more familiar September-viewing reality in St. Louis, where the Cardinals have slipped below .500 and now sit more than five games back in the wild-card race. Even so, the season has not been without signs of progress. JJ Wetherholt, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson have all offered encouraging development, giving the organization something to build around as it tries to bridge the gap between a retool and a true push toward contention.
The biggest obstacle is hard to miss. The bullpen has been a problem for much of the year, carrying a 4.48 ERA and leaving the Cardinals without enough dependable late-inning arms, with no reliever on the staff even sitting below a 3.10 ERA. The trade deadline only underscored that reality, as St. Louis moved on from pitchers like Dustin May and JoJo Romero, setting up an offseason in which fixing the relief corps figures to be one of the clubs top priorities. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Just Opened The Door For Cade Winquest's Long Wait To End
The Cardinals made a quiet roster move with a potentially meaningful payoff, selecting the contract of right-hander Cade Winquest from Triple-A Memphis and adding him to the 40-man roster. To clear the path, St. Louis placed Peter Strzelecki on the 15-day injured list with extensor inflammation in his right forearm, creating an opening on the 26-man roster at a time when bullpen depth matters.
For Winquest, the timing brings a long wait into focus. He had previously been on the Yankees roster without getting into a game, and now appears set for his first major league appearance in a Cardinals uniform. The move gives St. Louis another live arm while giving Winquest the kind of chance every pitcher chasing the show keeps waiting for. [Read more 🡒]