St. Louis Cardinals Starting Pitcher Steven Matz Hurts Back, Placed on 15-Day IL
Steven Matz pitched through back pain against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, and now the St. Louis Cardinals veteran will spend the next few weeks on the injured list.
The St. Louis Cardinals have placed left-handed pitcher Steven Matz on the 15-day injured list with a lower back strain, retroactive to May 1, the team announced Friday afternoon.
Matz last took the mound Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. He told reporters he pitched through back pain that day, giving up four earned runs in 3.1 innings, and it appears as if the issue has caught up with him.
As a result, Matz will miss at least the first two weeks of May.
Matz was 1-2 with a 6.18 ERA, 1.735 WHIP and -0.6 WAR through six starts this regular season. It struggles didn't exactly come out of nowhere, either, considering Matz went 1-1 with an 8.16 ERA and 1.744 WHIP in Spring Training.
Matz is in his third season with the Cardinals, having signed a four-year, $44 million deal with the club ahead of the 2022 campaign. He was fresh off a bounce-back 2021 season with the Toronto Blue Jays, which was preceded by six up-and-down years with the New York Mets.
A left shoulder impingement and a torn MCL limited Matz to just 48.0 innings in 2022, and he still only tossed 105.0 innings in 2023 due to a left lat strain and time spent in the bullpen.
Matz, who turns 33 years old later this month, is actually the spring chicken of St. Louis' 2024 starting rotation, the rest of which remains healthy as April turns to May.
Last November, the Cardinals signed Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn, who are 34, 36 and 37 years old, respectively. 35-year-old Miles Mikolas remains an innings-eater for the club as well.
Without Matz, St. Louis has to find a new No. 5 starter to take over in the short term. Matz's next projected start was May 7 against the Mets, giving manager Oliver Marmol four days to lock down a solution.
The Cardinals recalled right-handed pitcher Kyle Leahy from Triple-A Memphis when they shelved Matz, but he has worked almost exclusively as a reliever over the past two minor league seasons. Left-hander Zack Thompson, meanwhile, made two starts earlier this year when Gray was banged up, but he is currently with Triple-A Memphis.
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