Tipsheet: Tigers run short of arms during their visit to Busch Stadium

The Cardinals caught the Detroit Tigers with their injury-depleted pitching staff in disarray this week.

That’s why the Tigers summoned pitcher Chase Lee from Triple-A Toledo on Monday after placing starting pitcher Reese Olson on the 15-day injured list.

That’s how the Cardinals ended up facing catcher Tomas Nido at the end of Monday’s 11-4 victory over the Tigers.

That’s why Tigers manager A.J. Hinch changed his plans for Wednesday, opting for a bullpen start while pushing former Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty back a day to face the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday.

Tipsheet had been looking forward to that reunion at Busch Stadium. Oh, well . . .

“Probably the worst time to run a bullpen game is the first game of a four-game series,” Hinch said. “So you don't want to empty your tank and have the bullpen get a free look for the beginning of a series. So we'll run the bullpen game the last day here in St ��Ƭ.”

Hinch used left-handed reliever Sean Guenther as his opener Monday. Guenther faced three batters, allowed three hits, then exited.

Keider Montero relieved Guenther and got extended to 98 pitchers as the rains approached. And when former Cardinals reliever John Brebbia got shelled when it was his turn on the mound, Hinch asked Nido to finish out the game.

“As the game went on and the game got out of hand, of course you’re managing for tomorrow and the next day and the next day,” Hinch said.

The Tigers still had ace Tarik Skubal lined up to pitch Tuesday, but otherwise Hinch is scrambling this week while trying to keep his torrid team atop the American League Central.

Olson is sidelined by a finger injury. He joined an injury list that included pitchers Casey Mize (hamstring strain), Alex Cobb (hip inflammation), Sawyer Gipson-Long (elbow, hip surgeries) and Ty Madden (rotator cuff strain).

Mize could return this weekend, so the Tigers should be in better shape against the Guardians than they are here in the STL.

Here is what folks are writing about Our National Pastime:

Timothy Jackson, Baseball Prospectus: “(Aaron) Nola is on the Injured List for the first time since a COVID-related stint in 2021. He hasn’t missed a start because of injury since 2017. Then it was for a lower back issue. This time it’s for a sprained right ankle, which goes a long way toward explaining the nine earned runs he gave up in just 3 2/3 innings against St. ��Ƭ in his last turn. It was the worst start of his career. During the game, Phillies radio color commentator Kevin Stocker said that ‘right now, the way that the Cardinals are swinging…the way they’re attacking baseballs…[Nola’s] not fooling anyone. It’s like batting practice right now.’ He also implied that maybe the right-hander was tipping his pitches, though the ankle injury removes that from the equation for now. Nola went on to say after the game that he had trouble rotating and had to compensate for it through the rest of his motion.”

Chris Thompson, The Defector: “Tony Mansolino has been put in a tough position. It is his job today to engineer a turnaround for the most disappointing team in baseball. The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde Saturday morning, after the team played sloppily and stranded a billion baserunners in a loss Friday night, their fourth in a row and 10th in 12 games. No one on earth could credibly claim that Hyde is bad at managing a baseball team: He took over in Baltimore when they were hopeless garbage, stuck it out through years of deliberate organizational (failure) and then notched a dominant 100-win season the very first time he was handed a genuinely professional-grade roster. Along the way Hyde earned some managerial accolades and helped the O's to just their second first-place finish of this millennium. There is no question that Hyde can lead a very good baseball team. The Orioles of 2025 stink real bad. They're 10th-worst in the majors by team OPS, and are second-worst in the majors by team ERA. Hunt around in the cool math if you must — Orioles hitters are generally underperforming their perfectly respectable expected numbers, per Statcast—but the very basic formula there is pretty straightforward: Baltimore's pitching staff allows too many runs, and their vaunted lineup is not doing anywhere near enough slugging to make up the difference. This team . . . (has) a run differential that is second-worst in the majors, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies, who are a blight on the sport. The scoring part has been frustrating, but not quite confounding. Gunnar Henderson is off to a slow start. Heston Kjerstad has not done consecutive correct things in a baseball game since September. Adley Rutschman has not yet realized that someone replaced all his bats with steamed whole zucchini.”

Michael Baumann, FanGraphs: “Good teams, well-constructed teams, suffer injuries and start cold every year. As of this writing, the Braves, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rays, Royals, Rangers, and Astros are all within four games of .500. Four of those teams made the playoffs last year; all of them, like the Orioles, started 2025 with at least a one-in-three chance of making the playoffs. If the Orioles had gone through all those injuries and slumps and ended up where the Rays are, I don’t think anyone would’ve been surprised. Hyde would almost certainly still be in a job. But they’re . . . the only AL team with a worse record is the White Sox. Baltimore’s run differential is the second-worst in all of the majors, ahead of the aforementioned Rockies. This isn’t a cold team. This is a bad team.”

Will Leitch, : “It was certainly jarring to receive the news that José Alvarado, the Phillies’ best and unquestionably most important reliever, was suspended by MLB for 80 games on Sunday morning for testing positive for exogenous testosterone. But don’t forget the other punishment that comes in addition to the 80 games: He won’t be eligible to pitch in the postseason. Considering the Phillies are very much planning on being a part of that postseason, you should expect the team to address its sudden bullpen hole quickly, and with aggression.”

R.J. Anderson, : “Even with Alvarado, the Phillies' bullpen ranked 24th in the majors in ERA. Without him, it's fair to assume that executives Dave Dombrowski and Sam Fuld will get to work on identifying who, precisely, they can land from other squads to upgrade their relief corps for the stretch run. (Ryan) Helsley has established himself as one of the sport's top relievers over the last few years, earning Cy Young Award consideration in both 2022 and 2024. Will he be made available at the deadline? That would seem to depend on how the Cardinals play over the next two months. For now, anyway, they seem too good to deal their top reliever. It is worth noting that Helsley is an impending free agent, however, and that could alter the Cardinals' calculus on such a move.”

Bob Nightengale, USA Today: “If the Boston Red Sox are still looking for a first baseman at the trade deadline, Rhys Hoskins of the Milwaukee Brewers could be the perfect fit. Hoskins, a free agent after the season, will be available if the Brewers aren’t in the playoff hunt . . . If the Brewers are out of the race by July 31, they are expected to be flooded with calls for ace Freddy Peralta, who has a club option for just $8 million next season.”

Megaphone

“Pretty much right now, I'm done. I've kind of come to the conclusion that I'm probably going to be hanging them up. It's just one of those things where, the game how it's going now, there's no sense of chasing . . . I'm a dad now, yes, I'm enjoying that. I'm trying to be the best big league dad that I can be. So I'm going to stick to that.”

Former Cardinals standout Kolten Wong, conceding his retirement while being honored by the University of Hawaii.

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