Central STL News

The St. Louis Cardinals are facing challenges with their pitching rotation as they approach the All-Star break. The team is seeking solutions to manage innings effectively in what has been a physically demanding stretch of the season.

Michael McGreevy may be given a start soon, but this will only address one game. The Cardinals lack depth on the bench and cannot undo recent struggles that have affected their standings. Each potential solution has its limitations.

In Wednesday night's 8-2 loss to the Nationals at Busch Stadium, starting pitcher Andre Pallante allowed seven earned runs over six innings, continuing a concerning trend for the team's rotation. "He’s a high ball in play guy, and you’re hoping it’s at people," said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol. "The hard contact wasn’t, and some of the soft contact wasn’t either."

Pallante's performance interrupted what had been his best stretch of the season, having allowed just two earned runs over his previous three starts. However, against Washington, he failed to register any swings and misses on fastballs and gave up seven hard-hit balls.

"I felt like I threw some good pitches in some good chase spots there," Pallante said. "It’s [a] learning curve." He also mentioned working on a new pitch to improve his performance against right-handed batters.

Despite recent struggles by Pallante, the entire Cardinals' rotation has faced difficulties since July 4th, allowing 22 earned runs over 23 1/3 innings pitched with an ERA of 8.48 during this period.

Manager Marmol emphasized the need for mental toughness as players deal with injuries and fatigue leading up to the All-Star break: "We need to continue to just have our head down... until we get this break."

Miles Mikolas is scheduled to start Thursday's game against the Nationals, followed by Matthew Liberatore against Atlanta on Friday and Sonny Gray on Sunday. The team hopes for better performances from their starters in these upcoming games.

"We’ve got a little swing miss with a couple guys," Marmol noted about their pitching strategy. "That's why we make it a big deal to play good defense... because we know we're going to have to do that in order to survive."