Unpacking Cardinals' Bizarre Pitching Decisions for Brewers Doubleheader

May 6, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jared Shuster (68) pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers during the seventh inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Unpacking Cardinals' Bizarre Pitching Decisions for Brewers Doubleheader

Originally posted on St. Louis Cardinals on SI
By Patrick McAvoy | Last updated Jul 8, 2026 8:36 AM ET

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The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of arguably their most important stretch of the season, but it was an odd day on Tuesday, to say the least.

St. Louis is in the middle of a 14-game gauntlet in which it is facing playoff hopefuls in the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, and the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals took care of business across the first six games of the stretch with series wins over Atlanta and Chicago. The Cardinals took two out of three games against each club. Then, the Cardinals began the most difficult series of the stretch on Monday when they kicked off a five-game series against Milwaukee. Unfortunately, the Brewers series hasn't been as smooth as the Braves and Cubs series.

The Cardinals dropped the first game on Monday, 4-3. Then, the Cardinals dropped both games of a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday. St. Louis lost the first game, 4-3, and the second game, 10-2. On top of this, there were some surprising pitching choices. The expectation was that Michael McGreevy would start one of the games, but he was pushed back to Wednesday. Instead, Bruce Zimmermann was called up from Triple-A to take his place in Game 1 behind Matt Svanson as an opener. With Zimmermann being promoted, reliever Ryan Fernandez was optioned.

There were questions on Tuesday about just when the Cardinals knew McGreevy would be pushed back a day and Zimmermann promoted. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reported that Zimmermann was told on Monday to stay back in Memphis on Monday just in case, meaning there was some knowledge on Monday about it, at the very least.

It Was An Odd Day For St. Louis

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hunter Dobbins was promoted as the 27th man for the Cardinals on Tuesday to get the start in Game 2. That decision made a lot of sense, of course. He's been up and down throughout the season to this point and arguably should be up on the roster in general.

There was another surprising decision on Tuesday, though. Early in the day, it was reported that bullpen prospect Luis Gastelum was being promoted to join the club. That decision hasn't been officially announced yet, though. There was speculation that he could be promoted if the club designated Zimmermann for assignment to open up a roster spot. Well, the Cardinals did DFA Zimmermann after Game 1, but they then promoted Jared Shuster to come up and face the Brewers and he allowed seven runs in 1 1/3 innings.

The next logical move would be to DFA Shuster and then add Gastelum on Wednesday. But, that doesn't take away from arguably some odd decisions on Tuesday.

Brycen Mautz pitched just two innings on Sunday in Triple-A. If it was known that McGreevy would be pushed back, it's a bit surprising that Mautz wasn't utilized. The idea of promoting Zimmermann wasn't a bad one, by any means. He did his job and gave the club a chance to win. Where it got more surprising was DFAing him to promote Shuster. Why not just add Gastelum at that point? All in all, it was an odd day of pitching decisions for the organization and it didn't work out. The Cardinals dropped both games of the doubleheader and have already lost the five-game series against the Brewers.

This article first appeared on St. Louis Cardinals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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