ST. LOUIS – After two-plus months on the sidelines, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty is set to his season debut this week.
Flaherty will return from the 60-day injured list on Wednesday, according to reports from MLB.com and several other Cardinals beat writers. He is expected to start the series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The young hurler missed the first two months of the season while battling a shoulder injury. Flaherty had a platelet-rich-plasma injection in early March to combat shoulder inflammation.
In two rehab starts between Cardinals minor league affiliates Springfield (Double-A) and Memphis (Triple-A), Flaherty combined for seven innings of one-hit, one-run ball and struck out nine hitters. He stretched out to 59 pitches in his latest rehab start Friday, which could be a realistic pitch-count benchmark in his season debut.
Flaherty will be activated from the club’s 60-day injured list, meaning the Cardinals will need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster before they can officially activate him. Flaherty would likely offer a boost to a hard-worked pitching staff, set for the second doubleheader of the month on Tuesday. Last year, Flaherty went 9-2 with a 3.32 ERA and 85 strikeouts in an injury-shortened 2021 campaign.