Things are going from bad-to-worse for the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals, who have 11 World Series championships and won the National League Central just last year, entered play on Thursday at 10-21. That is both the fewest wins in the National League and the worst winning percentage.
Then on Thursday, they saw Jack Flaherty surrender ten earned runs in just 2.1 innings to the Los Angeles Angels before being forced to leave the game after taking a comebacker off the left arm.
John Denton, who covers the team for MLB.com, has more on the outing in a tweet:
"Final line on #STLCards RHP Jack Flaherty, who left midway through the third after taking a comebacker off the left forearm: 2.1 IP, 9 H, 10 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR allowed. Flaherty threw 74 pitches, 42 were for strikes. He came in with a 3.94 ERA, but it has ballooned to 6.29."
The only saving grace is that the comebacker came off his left arm, which is not his pitching arm. Flaherty is among the most established arms on the team, so seeing him get shelled -- and injured -- just adds insult to injury.
For his career, he's 36-28 with a 3.58 ERA. He was the Cardinals' first-round pick in 2014 out of the California high school ranks.
The 27-year-old finished fifth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 and finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting in 2019.
At the time of this posting, the Cardinals trail the Angels 11-2.
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