He will be there Thursday as Cardinals play split doubleheader with Cubs after rainout Wednesday night.
www.stltoday.com
Rick Hummel
Six into five means rookie Andre Pallante, who pitched shutout ball for eight innings in his previous start, is going to the Cardinals’ bullpen.
Since Pallante beat Washington 5-0 on Sunday, the Cardinals have added left-handers Jose Quintana and Jordan Montgomery to the rotation, giving them six starters when only five generally are needed.
Quintana is slated to pitch Thursday night in one of the games of a split doubleheader with the Chicago Cubs and Miles Mikolas, the scheduled starter for Wednesday’s rainout, will have the first game at 12:15 p.m.
Montgomery, who is to arrive Thursday morning, will work against his former team, the New York Yankees, on Saturday night.
The reassignment of Pallante has nothing to do with how Pallante, whose earned-run average is 3.18, is pitching. Manager Oliver Marmol, mindful that Pallante’s professional career high in innings was 99⅓ last year and his total is at 82 innings now, says he wants to make sure the impressive right-hander is ready for postseason action. So, the 23-year-old will be ready for bullpen activity as early as Thursday.
“I think he’ll be better as a reliever than ‘Dak' (Dakota Hudson) in how we can use him against both righty (and) lefty pinch-hitters," Marmol said. "And, also we talk about overall innings — having them for the last run and for the playoffs.
“But it’s definitely not because he didn’t do the job as a starter. He took to that role well.”