St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol had to improvise a lineup without two of his Opening Day players on Saturday due to injuries.
Cardinals’ Willson Contreras, Lars Nootbaar, and Giovanny Gallegos injury updates
The St. Louis Cardinals will be without Opening Day starters catcher Willson Contreras and outfielder Lars Nootbaar for Saturday’s second game of their three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Both are listed as day-to-day by the team, with Contreras’s knee injury stemming from a pitch by Jordan Hicks that hit his right knee on Thursday during a defeat to Toronto. On sliding into third on Thursday, Nootbaar jammed his left thumb.
Neither is considered serious enough to keep them out of the Cardinals’ lineup beyond this weekend.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol stated on Thursday that Nootbaar was “feeling it (thumb injury) even in his final at-bat.” Nootbaar had just returned from helping Japan win the World Baseball Classic. St. Louis lost 10-9 on Thursday, and Nootbaar started the eighth inning by drawing a walk.
“He slid in, he jammed it, so he’s not available today,” Marmol told reporters, adding that imaging had not seen anything to cause concern.
However, Marmol reported that Contreras “felt a lot better” after a day off on Friday, that’s some good news, “He was moving around much better than anticipated.”
On Saturday, Andrew Knizner will start at catcher for the Cardinals, and if he needs backup, Taylor Motter is in the mix to receive the nod.
On the mound, Gallegos was unable to pitch on Thursday due to what was described as a “twitch” in his lower back. Because of the cold and windy weather in St. Louis, Marmol predicted that the reliever would be unavailable on Saturday as well.
“He’s going to move around to see what that looks like, but I don’t see us using him today, even if it feels better,” Marmol said. “It’s probably another day before he’s available.”
Last year, the right-hander made more starts than any other St. Louis pitcher with 57. He has 14 saves, second on the club only to Ryan Helsley’s 19. Helsley made 11 of those after the All-Star break.
