Cardinals make pitching roster move before Brewers clash

The St. Louis Cardinals have been struggling immensely on the mound, with their bullpen in particular having major issues late in games.

Ahead of Friday’s matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers, the team has called up reliever Riley O’Brien to hopefully give their pen a boost, as reported by Katie Woo.

O’Brien has pitched well in Triple-A so far this season, striking out 14 hitters in just seven innings of work while allowing only three earned runs. The Cardinals have a 4.36 ERA as a staff right now, which ranks 23rd in the Majors.

O’Brien hasn’t pitched many innings in the MLB, but the hope is he can bring his brilliance from Memphis to St. Louis. The Cardinals’ bullpen currently owns a 5.11 ERA, which is one of the worst marks in the entire big leagues. Needless to say, they need some serious help.

The worst part is that St. Louis has one of the best offenses around early on. It’s their pitching that continues to hurt them. The organization blew a lead to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday after Ryan Fernandez allowed a three-run homer. JoJo Romero has also been poor out of the bullpen.

Regardless, Cardinals skipper Oli Marmol is staying patient:

“We treat the bullpen arms different than the position players because when it doesn’t go [the reliever’s] way, the game usually flips, and it hurts,” Marmol said. “So, [the bullpen] is the hardest area to be patient in.

“If we’re going to be as reactive with these bullpen arms [with possible demotions], why not send some of these position players out?”

Marmol makes a good point. However, they can only be patient for so long. We’ll see if adding O’Brien to the mix will help turn things around for the Cardinals. They cannot keep wasting the impressive efforts of their lineup.