Cardinals’ outfielder Stephen Piscotty suffered a groin injury during the ninth inning of the club’s 5-2 loss to the Pirates on Friday night. Piscotty fielded a fly ball from Josh Harrison for the first out of the inning and appeared to injure himself on the throw from the outfield. He was officially diagnosed with a right groin strain following the game, but the club has yet to report the severity of the strain or release a timetable for his return.
Piscotty, 26, has struggled to produce this season while dealing with several setbacks, including a hamstring strain, knee soreness and forearm tightness. He batted .240/.353/.378 with six home runs and a .731 OPS through his first 269 PA and went 0-for-4 on Friday with two strikeouts against the Pirates’ Gerrit Cole and Felipe Rivero.
Rookie outfielder Jose Martinez replaced Piscotty to finish the rest of the game, which ended in the Pirates’ favor following an intentional walk to Andrew McCutchen and Josh Bell’s three-run walk-off home run. With the loss, the Cardinals now sit six full games behind the division-leading Brewers and just half a game behind the second-place Cubs.
