ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

The relationship began with Pop Warner youth football. Bryce Harper and Erick Fedde were teammates. Harper, among other duties, was the team’s punter. Their homes in the Las Vegas area were 10 minutes apart. They were teammates again in junior high, this time in basketball. Then in high school baseball. Bryce Harper went on to be, well, Bryce Harper. But Fedde blossomed, too — picked in the first round of the 2014 draft by … Harper’s Washington Nationals.

“During the draft process, he spoke well of me,� the current Cardinals pitcher Fedde said. “I’ll always be thankful of that.�

And now in 2025, all these years later, they’re still at it in the bigs. Both are 32. They reunited at Busch Stadium this weekend — Fedde after throwing six no-hit innings in his last start, Harper while having another monster year with his latest team, the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I’m just really excited for him … to have success in the game,� said the iconic Harper, a two-time MVP and presumptive future member of the Hall of Fame.

I love these types of sports connections. Like, there are so many high school baseball teams in the United States — and only 780 players at any time in Major League Baseball. Yet, Las Vegas High produced two active players, be it a Cardinals starter and a superstar.

But the Harper-Fedde connection, of course, goes back beyond high school.

“We also played against each other in coach-pitch, same little league,� said Harper, who is 132 days older than Fedde. “But he grew up to be a great soccer player. Yeah, state champion in soccer. Didn’t really get to the level that he is at (in baseball) until probably his junior year in high school. He was purely soccer. A really, really good soccer player.�

Whoa. In an alternate world, could Erick Fedde have come through ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ as a pro athlete in Major League Soccer? Fedde did win a state title, was named to the all-Southern Nevada team and the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s male high school athletes of the year.

“Baseball was kind of just the sport I played in-season — I played travel soccer my whole life,� Fedde said. “I was planning on going to college to do that, but ended up getting drafted out of high school, so thought I’d focus on baseball. Soccer was kind of the first passion, but more than anything, I just loving competing. Baseball was where I found my chance to compete for the rest of my life.�

Asked for any memories of Fedde as a young athlete, Harper smirked and said: “We called him ‘Sunshine,’ because his hair was long,� in reference to a football player in the film “Remember The Titans.�

Growing up with Harper was a unique experience for Fedde. This was baseball’s LeBron. Harper was, for all intents and purposes, a prodigy. He was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16-year-old slugger. He only played two years at Las Vegas High so he could accelerate his career by attending a junior college and earning his GED. He was drafted first overall in 2010 (by the Nationals) out of the College of Southern Nevada.

“He was always, especially in the baseball world, a couple steps ahead of me,� Fedde said. “I mean, he was a superstar, ahead of everybody in the world. So that was exciting. It was fun to be around that and get to see, you know, greatness.�

In 2014, the Nats looked into a pitcher drafted by the Padres in the 24th round of 2011. Erick James Fedde chose to pitch for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas instead. And with the thumbs up from Harper (and obviously your standard scrupulous scouting), Washington drafted Fedde with the 18th pick in the draft.

The Nationals had Harper on stage for Fedde’s introductory news conference. The already All-Star Harper, in his own Nats uniform, ceremonially put Fedde’s uniform over Fedde’s shirt and tie.

Fedde cracked the bigs in 2017 for three games and 11 the next — so they were teammates for a total of 14 games. Harper moved on that winter and, sure enough, the Nats won it all in 2019 (much to the chagrin of many ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ans reading this). Fedde went 4-2 with a 4.50 ERA in the regular season (including 12 starts) — but he didn’t pitch in the postseason.

In 2023, Fedde sought to rejuvenate his career by playing in Korea. He went 20-6 with a 2.30 ERA.

“Being able to go over to Korea and do what he did over there, a Cy Young type of (season)? He did an incredible job,� Harper said. “And then got his opportunity to come back here in the States.�

In 2024, he joined the White Sox and logged a 3.11 ERA — and was traded at the deadline to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ with 2025 still on his deal.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol shared on Saturday that Fedde was actually “on fumesâ€� upon his arrival to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ in 2024.

Now in 2025, “He’s fresh,� Marmol said. “The mix, the cutter usage is appropriate — it is not too heavy, but also not shying away from it. Like, it keeps guys on us with that pitch — and it sets the rest of his arsenal up. But an important thing for Erick ... keeping him fresh early on is going to be going to be important, to make sure we get the most out of him down the road.�

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If Miles Mikolas was looking for something to linger from Saturday’s start instead of the gamey aftertaste from one misplaced fastball that flipped an inning on him, consider the curveball at the end of his outing.

It hooked away and low in the zone.

That put it just out of reach of Trea Turner’s swing.

A game that included more swings and misses in some innings than Mikolas has seen in entire starts ended with just that — a reminder of how he got outs Saturday and how he must chase outs going forward.

“A little more conviction, a little more believing in it, I guess,� Mikolas said. “And confidence in the pitches I think is also important.�

A veteran who turned seeking soft contact and hogging innings into two All-Star nods, Mikolas is attempting to reorient how he pitches. The goal, discussed all winter and practiced all spring, was to utilize Mikolas’ knack for getting two strikes and then break him loose from the zone he fills with pitches to see if hitters — fittingly for the Jupiter, Florida, native — go fishing. It did not go anywhere in his most recent previous appearance as the Boston Red Sox thumped him for nine runs on 11 hits before he could get a ninth out.

After huddling for five days with pitching coach Dusty Blake and reengineering how, when and where he used his pitches, Mikolas got his first whiff of results Saturday.

In five innings of the Cardinals’ 4-1 loss to Philadelphia, Mikolas struck out six. He had nine swings and misses in the first four innings, 11 total. For context, at Fenway Park, the Red Sox took 41 swings against Mikolas in 2 2/3 innings. They missed only twice and put 18 balls in play. The Phillies, a stacked lineup with lefties like Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber paired with right-handed batters Turner and Nick Castellanos, also took 41 swings.

They put 12 in play.

They swung and missed 11 times.

“It’s more approach-driven and then being convicted about executing,� Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He does a nice job of getting to two strikes. It’s a matter of executing once he’s there and being stubborn about missing the way he needs to miss.�

In the first inning, Mikolas had that approach he wanted but did not get the call he needed, and a regrettable pitch followed. Mikolas seesawed pitches against Schwarber. He started with a fastball away, eventually went in with a cutter up and then back to a fastball away. He dropped a tidy change-up at the bottom of the zone that got ignored for a ball by home-plate umpire Scott Barry. Mikolas would have planted that pitch lower and likely gotten a swing and miss over it. But if it was a ball, it was a ball.

For the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Mikolas threw a full-count sinker that caught the strike zone — or appeared to in every replay and graphic available. Barry called it a ball.

Instead of the final out of the inning and his first strikeout of the game, Mikolas allowed a walk and put two on with two out. He fed a two-strike fastball over the middle of the plate to Castellanos and watched as it soared for a two-run double. The Phillies never trailed and turned five double plays to unplug any threat the Cardinals attempted.

“That’s the one pitch I need back,� Mikolas said. “Calling balls and strikes has got to be the toughest thing in sports. That ball is coming in there pretty quickly and it’s moving all over the place. Some of those calls go either way. Some of them go my way and maybe it’s a tighter game. And then I threw a pitch right down the middle. That’s on me.�

A two-out walk bit him later for a third run allowed in five innings.

Mikolas (0-2) spent most of his career in the strike zone, pile-driving his pitches into it for soft contact, ground balls and plenty of work for his fielders. He’s turned that approach into two contract extensions with the Cardinals and several seasons as a workhorse starter.

Around him, the game has changed. Efficiency still is valued but swings and misses rule. The challenge for Mikolas to adjust is counterintuitive.

Throw fewer strikes?

Throw fewer strikes.

Following Castellanos’ double in the first inning, Mikolas breezed through the next 10 outs with an example of how he can make this new approach work.

Castellanos was the first of nine batters Mikolas got ahead against, either at 1-2 or 0-2 counts. Castellanos was the only one to get a hit. Mikolas escaped the first inning with a 1-2 curveball out of the zone that coaxed a fly ball to right field. In the second, he get ahead 0-2 against Alec Bohn and Brandon Marsh. Bohm took a full-count curveball in the zone, and Marsh chased after an elevated four-seam fastball out of the zone. In the third, two more Phillies fell behind 0-2 and neither of them got a pitch in the zone as one struck out (on an elevated cutter) and the other grounded out (on a change-up).

Mikolas’ breaking ball acts like a slider when it’s low and a tighter, sharper cutter when he throws it higher in the zone. Mixing those two in a retooled sequence was part of the work coming out of Boston, and the return was throwing that pitch more than even his fastball Saturday. The Phillies swung at the pitch 15 times — and missed six.

They got the ball in play twice.

“He wasn’t in the heart of the plate as much as we’ve seen in the past,� Marmol said. “He did a much better job of executing to chase locations above the zone or underneath the zone. When he had the three (strikeouts) in a row, it was curveball under, the cutter on top. So he did a much better job of using all of his stuff in better locations, and it led to a better start. ... Nice bounce back for sure.�

Two of Mikolas’ six strikeouts came on elevated pitches. In the fourth, Schwarber cast after a slider that was low and outside the zone. The final two strikeouts came on curveballs, one of which was blocked in the dirt.

Mikolas gave a handy explanation of what he’s trying to accomplish with his pitches. There are pitches that are “strike to ball� and “ball to ball,� he said. In short, there are pitches that he releases that appear like they’re going to be balls and stay balls and hitters ignore them because, as they’ll say, they’re “balls out of hand.� The “strike to ball� pitches look like strikes until they are balls. The change-up Mikolas landed against Schwarber was that pitch, and had it been called a strike, he would have gone to it again.

The cutter or slider can be that pitch — strike out of hand, veering out of the zone.

It was for him Saturday.

Now he has to do it again.

“I would like to imagine (it’s) very repeatable, extremely repeatable,� Mikolas said. “It shouldn’t be hard for me to not throw strikes. I guess sometimes it’s more difficult than you’d think.�

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The results from his previous outing were so putrid, so obvious there in the box score or in his swollen ERA that Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas said he had no need to review any of the pitches he threw in a loss at Boston. He could move on from them all.

That might be harder to do with one he dotted-up Saturday.

A taut game mostly decided by the Phillies’ ability to get grounders and spin them into double plays, hinged in the first inning around a full-count pitch Mikolas slipped inside the zone for an apparent strikeout. When it was called a ball instead, the resulting walk wandered into a two-run inning for Philadelphia, and the Phillies never trailed in a 4-1 win at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals bounced into five double plays in the first eight innings, cleaning up any runners they may have stranded but also sabotaging any rallies they tried to muster.

Frustrated by the missed call, Mikolas (0-2) found his footing for his sturdiest stretch of the young season. The veteran allowed nine runs on 11 hits in 2 2/3 innings at Fenway Park this past weekend, and in his bounce-back chance he limited the Phillies to three runs on three hits and struck out six. He retired 10 consecutive Phillies after Nick Castellanos’ two-run double in the first, and notably Mikolas struck out five of them. He got 11 swings and misses, nine in the first five innings.

Phillies lefty Cristopher Sanchez was superb with a heavy, high-octane fastball that forced all of the grounders. He allowed eight hits, but his overpowering sinker, kept the Cardinals grounded. Through 6 1/3 innings, Sanchez (1-0) got seven groundouts. Six of the first nine outs he got came on double plays.

It was the first time since July 1950 the Cardinals hit into five double plays in a home game.

Willson Contreras provided the Cardinals’ lone run with a single in the sixth inning to score Luken Baker after the designated hitter’s double. That was the only extra-base hit off Sanchez and a double turned out to be the best way to avoid a double play.

Double-up trouble galore

Even when the Philadelphia Phillies phlubbed a potential double play, the Cardinals gave them a second chance at turning two.

Whatever the Cardinals could muster offensively in the first three innings ended with the Phillies turning a double play. They got the first two outs of the first inning on a double play and the last two outs of the second inning on a double play. When the Cardinals collected three singles in the third inning, the potential rally went nowhere because lefty Sanchez coaxed a double play.

By the end of the third, Baker had two at-bats that caused four outs.

In the fifth inning, another single by a Cardinal gave the Phillies the setup for a double play, and two batters later came the groundball to get it. But shortstop Trea Turner’s toss to second was high and second baseman Bryson Stott, involved in the three previous double plays, couldn’t control the catch. The Phillies curiously challenged the obvious call and watched with the rest of the folks at Busch Stadium the video that confirmed the poor use of a challenge.

No matter.

The next Cardinal, No. 9 hitter Thomas Saggese, chopped a grounder back to Stott and this time he let Turner — it is in the name — be the pivot for the Phillies’ fourth double play in five innings.

The K that got away

Mikolas had the inning, had the count, had the command, and had the pitch to begin Saturday’s game assertively after the mess at Fenway Park.

He just didn’t get the call.

With the help from a lunging, backhand catch by Jordan Walker on a line drive to right field, Mikolas got two quick outs in the first inning before Bryce Harper roped a single. That brought cleanup hitter Kyle Schwarber and his six homers in the season so far to the plate. Mikolas and Schwarber dueled to a full count after eight pitches. Mikolas seemed to tickle the bottom of the zone with a changeup Schwarber ignored for a ball, and Schwarber held tight by fouling off a couple of near-miss breaking balls.

The ninth pitch was a full-count sinker at 91.6 mph.

Schwarber took it.

Replays of the pitch and ’s gamecast graphic available online all show the pitch in the strike zone — ready to be a called third strike to end the inning. Home-plate umpire Scott Barry had a different view, called it a ball, and gave Schwarber the base.

What followed was a two-run jag by the Phillies to take an early lead with the only runs scored in the first four innings of the game. Mikolas let a pitch leak over the middle of the plate and Castellanos tagged it for a two-out, two-run double that capitalized on the missed call. Center fielder Victor Scott II attempted a dashing, diving catch of the double that glanced off his outstretched glove before he skidded, headfirst, into the wall. Scott was unharmed. The same could not be said for Mikolas’ ERA.

Instead of ending the inning with that pitch to Schwarber, Mikolas missed on a pitch to Castellanos and Philadelphia had the early lead.

Matz’s final tuneup

On the final day the Cardinals could use him in relief before he prepares to move into the rotation with a start Wednesday against Houston, Steven Matz carried the innings after Mikolas’ five and into the eighth. Matz allowed one run on five hits and struck out one. The line could have been mangled if not for the Cardinals’ debut of right-hander Roddery Munoz.

Added to the roster Friday, Munoz relieved Matz with two on in the eighth. Set to serve in a length role — but capable of growing with his high-velocity into tougher spots — Munoz struck out both batters he faced to freeze the Phillies’ lead at 4-1.

Munoz landed four different pitches at 87 mph or faster.

Gorman off the IL, into PH

The same day he successfully lobbied his swing was ready for games and he came off the injured list, Nolan Gorman found himself in a pinch-hit spot with a chance to tie the game.

In the seventh, the Cardinals paired a walk and a single to chase Sanchez from the game and get the bullpen involved. When the Phillies called on right-hander Orion Kerkering to get the final two outs of the seventh inning, the Cardinals countered with Gorman’s left-handed bat for Saggese’ right-handed swing. Gorman pounced on the first pitch he saw, the first pitch Kerkering threw, and drove an 87-mph sweeper — but it hung up for a fly out to center.

That left the inning to leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar.

He worked the count to 2-2, and then took a 97-mph fastball off the inside edge of the plate. Nootbaar buckled as Barry shared his opinion of the pitch.

It was the strike three he did not give earlier.

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Phillies 4, Cardinals 1

Philadelphia AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Stott 2b 5 0 1 1 0 1 .250

Turner ss 5 0 1 1 0 1 .261

Harper 1b 4 1 1 0 0 0 .250

Schwarber dh 2 1 1 0 2 1 .288

Castellanos rf 4 0 3 2 0 0 .308

Kepler lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .200

Realmuto c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .231

Bohm 3b 4 1 1 0 0 2 .158

Marsh cf 2 1 0 0 1 2 .118

Totals 34 4 8 4 3 10

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Nootbaar lf 3 0 1 0 1 2 .278

Baker dh 3 1 1 0 0 0 .294

Burleson ph-dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 .279

Contreras 1b 4 0 2 1 0 0 .132

Arenado 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .265

Donovan 2b-ss 4 0 1 0 0 2 .357

J.Walker rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .255

Pagés c 3 0 1 0 1 0 .294

Scott cf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .265

Saggese ss 2 0 1 0 0 0 .471

Gorman ph-2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .444

Totals 32 1 9 1 2 5

Philadelphia 200 010 100 — 4 8 1

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ 000 001 000 — 1 9 0

E: Stott (1). LOB: Philadelphia 7, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ 6. 2B: Castellanos 2 (5), Stott (3), Baker (2). S: Marsh. DP: Philadelphia 5.

Philadelphia IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Sánchez, W 1-0 61/3 8 1 1 2 3 3.12

Kerkering 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 1.69

Romano 1 1 0 0 0 0 10.50

Alvarado, S 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.23

ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Mikolas, L 0-2 5 3 3 3 2 6 9.00

Matz 21/3 5 1 1 1 1 2.31

Muñoz 2/3 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

King 1 0 0 0 0 1 6.75

Inherited runners-scored: Kerkering 2-0, Muñoz 2-0. WP: ³§Ã¡²Ô³¦³ó±ð³ú. T: 2:23. Att.: 30,791.

When he left the clubhouse late Friday night still clearly limited in his movement by lower back stiffness and spasms, Masyn Winn insisted to reporters what he also told trainers — that he would “not go on the injured list.�

By Saturday morning, he had done what his back pain had not.

Relented.

The Cardinals placed their prized young shortstop on the 10-day IL Saturday morning to assure that he’ll miss at least that much time to let a recurring lower back injury calm and not engulf his season. The Cardinals will turn to Thomas Saggese, Saturday’s starter at shortstop, and Brendan Donovan to initially man the position during Winn’s absence. The team made a choice at the start of the season not to carry a backup shortstop, such as Jose Fermin, on the roster in part because Winn was expected to play every day and eager to do so, he said.

This is the second of his two full seasons in the majors to begin with concerns about his back, and while playing time and workload helped manage the discomfort a year ago, the concern this year is that pushing through it would lead to lengthier issues.

“It’s April and I don’t want it lingering,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “If it was July and warm weather and easier to get lose, but that’s not going to be the case here and in New York (this week). It’s just for him to try and play through it and this linger the rest of the month, if not longer, and then whenever you’re dealing with something like that you tend to do is limit your work prior to the game in order to have enough for the game. That’s not advantageous for him in April either.�

The Cardinals swapped infielders from the IL, activating Nolan Gorman after his 10-day absence with a strained hamstring.

Gorman was not limited for long in his baseball activities. He had been participating in workouts, running drills, and hitting off the cutting-edge Trajekt pitching machine for the past week. The Cardinals planned to discuss with Gorman whether he needed a rehab assignment to get at-bats at a minor-league affiliate, and Gorman lobbied to just return to the active roster.

“He was really pushing for not missing a whole lot of time and not needing at-bats based on what he was doing,� Marmol said. “He’s happy that we’re not stringing this along and making him go down to get at-bats. He was pushing for the opposite.�

Gorman returns to a middle-infield mix missing its cornerstone glove.

Exiting spring training, the Cardinals elected to carry an extra outfielder instead of Fermin, a utility infielder who can play a dependable shortstop. If they had a long-term absence at shortstop, the Cardinals had Jose Barrero available at Class AAA Memphis. Promoting Barrero to the majors would be a commitment as the Cardinals could not return him to the minors without potentially losing him off waivers to another club.

Counting on Donovan and Saggese at shortstop is at least some indication the Cardinals do not expect Winn to miss much time.

Winn felt some discomfort in his back over the past week, and he confided in teammate Jordan Walker that it had gotten worse ahead of Friday’s game. In the first inning, a jarring play on Trea Turner’s groundout caused Winn to twist himself as he completed the throw.

“Probably the worst,� Winn said of how his back felt going into the inning. “I didn’t think much of it, and then that play all at once – the perfect storm. Weird, awkward play, going against the middle, and then a scissors throw. It wasn’t great.�

Winn told his teammates he was likely to come out of the game.

What followed was a shifting of positions that put catcher Pedro Pages at second base and Yohel Pozo at catcher and batting in Winn’s No. 9 spot. Pozo had the RBI double that broke a scoreless tie and scored the only other run in the Cardinals’ 2-0 victory.

Aware of Winn’s lower back issues, the Cardinals scripted workload management going into last season to keep their young infielder healthy and respond to any discomfort he felt. By the end of the first few months, the concern had lifted and Winn played 150 games with 637 plate appearances and nearly 1,300 innings at shortstop. He finished as a finalist for the Gold Glove award at his position. Winn and the Cardinals adopted a similar regimen in his training and game preparation this season to stay ahead of any back pain, but it surfaced Friday.

The goal of an IL stint is to give him a rest so the back does what he ultimately did after a conversation with the manager and trainers.

Relents.

Said Marmol: “This has more to do with how do we get the best version of Masyn once this is over?�

How Pages prepped for 2B

At the urging of coach Jon Jay this spring, catcher Pedro Pages began taking groundballs wherever there room for him on the infield — except shortstop. Jay suggested that Pages jump into infield drills when not busy catching, and do as Yadier Molina, Tony Cruz, and other Cardinals catchers had done. Molina would take grounders at shortstop during infield drills, as an example.

Pages played the infield sparingly in his career. Though he debuted as a first baseman, the longest stretch he had at the position was likely in college when a hamate bone injury made it too painful to catch but not hit, he said.

In Pittsburgh this past week, during infield work, Pages took grounders at second.

On Friday night he made his big-league debut there when the Cardinals needed to get creative due to Winn’s injury and sudden exit from the game. Pages had two assists in the game and a new nickname after it. Lars Nootbaar suggested “Pedro Wong,� after the Cardinals’ former Gold Glove-winning second baseman Kolten Wong.

Extra bases

Ivan Herrera (bone bruise) feels more comfortable moving around and participating in some workouts, though he’s not yet been cleared for baseball activities. … Tekoah Roby pitched four scoreless innings for Class AA Springfield, and the right-hander has to yet to allow a run in two starts and eight innings so far this season. Roby, who impressed during spring training, has allowed five hits and struck out 10. … Pages is the sixth Cardinals player to appear at second base and catcher in the same game and the first since Tony Cruz in 2011. Previous players to do it include Jose Oquendo, in the same 1988 game he played all of the positions, and catchers Scott Hemond in 1995, manager/catcher and Hall of Famer Roger Bresnahan in 1911, and Art Hoelskoetter in 1907.

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As the Cardinals host Philadelphia on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. in the second of three at Busch Stadium, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½' chances can be answered with a question.

Which Miles Mikolas will show up?

His ERA was third-worst among qualified starters in 2024. Only 12 qualified starters were less valuable than Mikolas (0-1, 11.25) last season by Fangraphs wins above replacement value.

But those statistics can belie the numbers behind the right-hander's effectiveness.

In both the number of quality starts (15) and percentage (46.9%) in 2024, Mikolas ranked toward the middle of all starters, certainly not indicative of his standing in other metrics as one of baseball's least valuable starters.

Conversely, Mikolas has allowed five or more earned runs 10 times since the start of 2024, two more such games than any other pitcher. The Cardinals are 1-9 in those games.

Mikolas' 2025 starts have been a microcosm of that wild variability: a solid 5 1/3 inning effort in which he allowed two earned runs vs. the Angels followed by an eight earned run meltdown at Boston in which he couldn't complete the third inning.

Facing Philadelphia, a National League contender, the better version of Mikolas is needed, because the Phillies will send out left-hander Cristopher Sanchez (0-0, 4.09), who ranked seventh among MLB starting pitchers last season in Fangraphs wins above replacement value.

Before the game, the Cardinals placed shortstop Masyn Winn on the 10-day injured list and activated Nolan Gorman. Winn was removed from Friday's game with back spasms but said after the game that it wouldn't require a stint on the IL.

The Cardinals, after Friday's 2-0 series-opening win, are 6-7. The Phillies are 8-5 and have lost three of four.

Lineups

CARDINALS

1. Lars Nootbaar, LF

2. Luken Baker, DH

3. Willson Contreras, 1B

4. Nolan Arenado, 3B

5. Brendan Donovan, 2B

6. Jordan Walker, RF

7. Pedro Pagés, C

8. Victor Scott II, CF

9. Thomas Saggese, SS

P: Miles Mikolas, RHP

PHILLIES

1. Bryson Stott, 2B

2. Trea Turner, SS

3. Bryce Harper, 1B

4. Kyle Schwarber, DH

5. Nick Castellanos, RF

6. Max Kepler, LF

7. J.T. Realmuto, C

8. Alec Bohm, 3B

9. Brandon Marsh, CF

P: Cristopher Sanchez, RHP

Injury report

Masyn Winn, SS (back spasms): Placed on the 10-day injured list due to lower back spasms experienced April 11. Winn was going to be unavailable for between four to six days, and the Cardinals opted for a more conservative approach with their young shortstop due to cold weather and his past experience with back spasms. Updated April 12

Ivan Herrera, C (knee inflammation): Herrera sustained a bone bruise to his left knee, and that will require at least four weeks to heal. He is walking around without pain and starting to move more comfortable in workouts, but he has not yet been cleared for baseball activities. Updated April 12

Nolan Gorman, INF (hamstring strain): Returned from the IL on Saturday and will be active and available for the afternoon game against the Phillies. Updated April 12

Zack Thompson, LHP (lat strain): Remained in Jupiter, Florida, to begin a throwing program after a month of limited activity and no throwing. Thompson went through multiple checkups and scans to monitor the healing of a tear in his lat on the left side, and they did not show any setback to delayed Thompson's scheduled move to the injured list. On April 7, Thompson was transferred to the 60-day IL. Updated April 7

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When catcher Pedro Pages approached Gold Glove-winner Brendan Donovan in the dugout Friday night and asked to borrow his form-fitting infielder’s glove, the response was confusion, uncertainty and a question.

“Why?� Donovan said.

He wasn’t the only one.

In an unscripted and unusual twist, Pages went from catching the first inning of a shutout one minute to playing second base the next, and — like the flap of a butterfly wing stirring up winds a world away — his willingness to play a position he never had before put a series of events in motion that led to the Cardinals’ victory.

It started when spasms rippled through shortstop Masyn Winn’s lower back and forced him from the game after the first inning. The Cardinals did not want to lose their designated hitter that early, so Donovan was out as a replacement option. That put Thomas Saggese at short and left his position, second, open. Pages hopped out of his catching gear, grabbed Donovan’s glove, and took over at second — and backup Yohel Pozo moved into the spotlight. He put on the mask to catch and moved into Winn’s No. 9 spot in the lineup. With Pages at second the game pivoted. Off the bench and in that specific lineup spot, Pozo drove in one run and scored the game’s only other run in a 2-0 victory against the Philadelphia Phillies at Busch Stadium.

“They were thinking about letting (starter Andre) Pallante hit, and I knew Pallante didn’t want to hit, so I kind of just said, ‘Hey, I’ll play second,’� Pages said. “They said, ‘You can?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. I’ll just put my chest in front of it and throw to first.’�

He went to the field with a magnet and the third out of the first inning of his career at second came bounding toward him.

Pages completed that play and another without issue.

He finished with two assists on Pallante’s 11 groundouts, two more for the game than 10-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado.

A teammate called Pages “Pedro Wong� after the Cardinals’ former second baseman and Gold Glove-award winner, Kolten Wong.

“He’s eligible at Gold Glove utility now,� said another teammate.

The severity of Winn’s injury and length of his absence was still being determined late Friday night at Busch Stadium. Winn, still clearly in discomfort, told the team’s trainers and a few reporters that he would not be going on the injured list. That decision is not entirely his to make. The lower back pain that bothered him early last season returned over the past week, and he confided in teammate Jordan Walker on Friday that it was worse than before. He attempted to play through it only to have a jarring play in the first inning cause the lower back to rage.

“I let them know I’m not going on the IL,� Winn said. “It’s going to be a couple of days before I’m back in there, but I’ll be back in there soon.�

With Winn out after the first inning, the Cardinals had to make a tricky call. By putting Donovan at DH for the game, moving him to the field would force Pallante into the game to hit. Manager Oliver Marmol said that wasn’t appealing because Pallante was in the midst of throwing seven scoreless innings and holding a feisty Phillies lineup to two hits. Pallante also had never taken an at-bat as a pro, and after the game the right-hander guessed that his last at-bat was maybe as a sophomore in high school or at some alumni game.

He took batting practice as a professional ballplayer once, went to a knee trying to launch a ball into orbit, and had a pitching coach tell him, yeah, no more at-bats.

“I’m definitely not going up there and taking,� he said. “I’ll tell you that.�

The coaches wanted to avoid him going up there at all.

“It wasn’t ideal,� Marmol said. “We were trying to figure out what was our best move there in order to keep Pallante focused on just pitching and not having to stand in the box and take two at-bats. Pages said he’d played there before in a previous life, and we went with it.�

When Donovan spotted Pozo putting on his catcher’s gear, the question about his glove made sense, and he offered Pages whatever he needed. Pallante spotted Pozo gearing up and thought Pages had been injured. He did not realize his catcher was now his second baseman until the throwdown to second base at the end of his warmups for the second inning. Pallante turned to get the ball back from the fielders and saw Pages at second base.

“Oh,� Pallante recalled thinking.

The move was not without its challenges, nor Pages’ missteps.

Pages kept the PitchCom earpiece in his hat — which is permitted for limited fielders — and took over telling first baseman Alec Burleson what pitches were coming. But he was either “too loud or too late or too early� telling Burleson a few times. At least once, he told Burleson what the next pitch was loud enough for the Phillies’ first-base coach to hear. Burleson gave him grace, and after the game reminded a gathered group of media how Pages takes groundballs with the infielders regularly, as catchers like Yadier Molina did before him.

Pages played four innings in the field, and it was the first time he had to use a positioning card. The pocket-sized card uses a number line — positives to one direction, negatives to the other — to tell infielders whether to move to their left or right based on the hitter.

“I didn’t know what it means,� Pages said.

He relied on coach Stubby Clapp to translate.

Pozo, meanwhile, had to decode on his own.

Added to the roster in the past week due to Ivan Herrera’s bone bruise, Pozo had yet to catch Pallante in a game, and he had limited exposure to the pitchers in spring training. The backup catcher caught one inning before huddling with Pallante in the dugout to take a cram course on the game plan.

“He was calling some pitches that I definitely don’t do,� Pallante said. “I can imagine what Pedro was doing when he heard them.�

What Pedro was doing was making the plays asked of him.

What Pozo did was deliver the hit the Cardinals needed from anyone.

Pozo’s RBI double in the fifth inning scored Saggese and gave the Cardinals their first earned run in 20 innings. They had been 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position in the game, and they were about to leave the bases loaded to end the fifth inning. Sandwiched between that, though, Pozo also scored on Burleson’s bases-loaded walk for the 2-0 lead. The inning ended when Pages flew out — and the fortuitous turn of the lineup continued for the Cardinals.

Pages making the final out of the same inning when the Cardinals took a lead meant Marmol should shift to a better defensive set up and lose the DH without Pallante batting anymore than once, if at all. Donovan moved to second and got his glove back — the one with the golden patch that Rawlings puts only on the gloves of Gold Glove winners. When Donovan had his glove restitched by Rawlings, they returned it with the brand new gold patch on it, and that is what Pages was looking at when he flexed and shifted the glove on his hand at second for the first time.

“I’m a gold glover apparently now,� Pages said. “I’ll take that.�

Lineup bind thrusts Yohel Pozo into game. He and Andre Pallante lift Cardinals vs. Phillies

Masyn Winn's back spasms forces a rewrite of the lineup that puts a catcher at second and Pozo at catcher in time to provide both runs in 2-0 win vs. Phillies.

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