WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Twenty pitches and gobs of groundballs into his scheduled start, Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray was greeted at the mound by his catcher, an athletic trainer and, soon, his manager.
The starter, who had grabbed at his hamstring, left the game in the middle of an at-bat with tightness in his right hamstring, according to a team official.
Gray is scheduled for an MRI Monday afternoon to determine the severity, manager Oliver Marmol said.
The Cardinals will have a better sense of his situation and their level of concern after the doctor's review.
Gray declined comment, telling a team official he wanted to know more about the injury before talking to the media.
The Cardinals' pitching held the game close, but the offense has yet to warm to Florida. The Cardinals are the only team in the majors yet to hit a home run this spring, and with a 1-0 loss Monday to the Nationals, they have scored only five runs in their 44 innings of Grapefruit League play.
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They've been held to one run or less in five of the past seven games.
Due to Gray's injury, lefty Steven Matz entered an inning early, and in his first game appearance of spring touched 96 mph with his fastball, sat around 95 mph, and whipsawed through one inning of work. His brief outing was a warmup for a start Saturday. Matz struck out two of the three batters he faced and did it with such expediency that he had to throw 15 more pitches in the bullpen just to complete the assigned 25 or 26 pitches.
Gray got five outs from the five Washington Nationals he faced. He allowed a single, and that baserunner was promptly erased by a snazzy double play handled by shortstop Masyn Winn. Not one of the five outs Gray collected came from beyond the reach of an infielder.Â
He allowed the one hit and no runs through 1 2/3 innings.
Gray, the prized signing of the Cardinals' offseason and runnerup for the American League Cy Young Award, was scheduled to throw three innings.
Catcher Willson Contreras called the athletic trainer out to the field in the middle of Nick Senzel's at-bat, with a 1-1 count. Gray left the mound with a trainer and returned to the dugout, where he talked with manager Oliver Marmol and pitching coach Dusty Blake while downing cups of water.
From earlier ...Â
Steven Matz set for (brief) appearance after Sonny Gray
JUPITER, Fla. — As the Cardinals considered the rollout of their planned opening-week rotation, Steven Matz's first appearance presented a bit of a riddle.
Seeking avoid any injuries at the same time readying him for the opening day roster, the Cardinals have kept Matz on a slower schedule than every starter other than Lance Lynn. (And Lynn has even been ahead of Matz when it comes to the pitch volume of his back-field appearances.) The Cardinals had Lynn set for Friday as his first start — and he'll throw upwards of 40 pitches, as if it were his second or third appearance of spring — and Matz then penciled in for Saturday.
Here's where the schedule presented a quandary.
That would put Matz on the back fields one more time against hitters before his start, or it would mean him waiting three days to face opponents.
The rain Sunday allowed for a solution.
Matz will play out spring exactly as last season did — he'll find his way back to the rotation by way of relief. In order to stay on schedule for a start Saturday but not have his schedule otherwise upset, Matz will throw an inning of relief Monday against Washington at West Palm Beach, Florida. He will follow Sonny Gray into the game whenever there is a clean inning.
Gray is set to go three innings vs. the Nationals.
The rainout Sunday moved Drew Rom's three innings to the back fields for a live batting practice or simulated game. Rom faced Brendan Crawford, Paul Goldschmidt, Dylan Carlson, and Ivan Herrera.Â
Crawford, signed by the team a week ago, faced pitchers in a live BP setting on Sunday. He'll go through that same drill Monday, and if he comes out of it feeling good about his swing and his legs, he could be in games by the end of the week. That would put his appearance in games a week or more ahead of originally advertised. His Cardinals debut would likely come after Wednesday's off day.
The Cardinals remain in the hunt for their first home run of spring. They are the only team in the majors without one this spring. They'll send a representative lineup south to West Palm Beach. Enough prelude, here it is:
1. Brendan Donovan, DH
2. Jordan Walker, RF
3. Nolan Gorman, 2B
4. Nolan Arenado, 3B
5. Willson Contreras, C
6. Matt Carpenter, 1B
7. Alec Burleson, LF
8. Masyn Winn, SS
9. Victor Scott, II, CF
Starting pitcher: Sonny Gray, RHP. Also on the trip and available: RHP Giovannt Gallegos, RHP Kyle Leahy, RHP Ryan Loutos, RHP Logan Sawyer, LHP JoJo Romero, LHP Cooper Hjerpe, LHP Connor Thomas.
Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley had his appearance scheduled for Sunday washed out by the thunderstorms. He has been moved to appear Tuesday when the Cardinals return to Roger Dean Stadium ahead of the off day.Â