St. Louis

Cardinals

He takes Blaze Jordan’s spot on the roster. It would seem to make sense for the Cardinals to give Saggese more of a look than Nolan Gorman down the stretch, but we’re guessing if they wanted to do that, Saggese would have already been in the big leagues and not needed an injury to be recalled. Saggese is hitting .258/.340/.446 for Memphis this year with 10 homers and nine stolen bases in 249 plate appearances.

Tough break for the 23-year-old, as he’s losing big-league opportunities down the stretch here with the Cardinals. Jordan was unable to put weight on the ankle after being hurt and this will likely be more than a 10-day injury.

Urías just returned Sunday from missing 3 1/2 months with an elbow injury, so the homer off Trevor Rogers today was his first since Apr. 6. Masyn Winn’s injury has gotten Urías a little more playing time than expected this week, and he’ll be due even more if Blaze Jordan is forced to the IL after getting hurt today.

The Cardinals surely got more than they expected from Graceffo in his first start since being moved to the pen in Triple-A early last year. He hadn’t pitched more than 2 1/3 innings in any of his 52 appearances this year, but he needed just 38 pitches to get nine outs today. In spite of his success, he’ll probably head back to the pen and make an appearance against the Pirates this weekend.

O’Brien gave up one run to take a loss in a tie game last night and six runs in a blown save/loss Sunday against the Phillies, but he had an easy time in an 11-pitch ninth today. He leads the National League and is third in the majors with his 34 saves. With O’Brien and George Soriano both having pitched back-to-back days, Ryne Stanek might be in line for a save chance on Friday.

Jordan appeared to roll his ankle while stretching to make an awkward tag at third base. He needed to be helped off the field by Cardinals’ manager Oli Marmol and the training staff as he was unable to put weight on it. He’ll head for further evaluation and imaging to determine the extent of the injury. Nolan Gorman replaced him at third base and could be in line for increased action if Jordan is forced to miss any time.

It’ll be a bullpen game. Newly-called up Cade Winquest may have the best chance for a bulk role, but that’s not exactly an endorsement of chasing a win with him.

He’ll get a rest day, with José Fermín shifting to shortstop and recently-activated Ramón Urías at second base against LHP Trevor Rogers.

The 26-year-old was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Yankees but returned to the Cardinals in April. This season, he has moved to the bullpen full time and has a 4.54 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 57/14 K/BB ratio in 39 2/3 innings at Triple-A. He will make his MLB debut if/when he gets into a game.

The right-hander has a 5.79 ERA in 14 innings out of the bullpen for the Cardinals this season. Coming into this season, he had a 3.44 ERA across 83 2/3 innings in the big leagues since 2022.