Nolan

Gorman

The positive news here for the Cardinals, and fantasy managers, is that X-rays came back negative for any fractures and it sounds like Arenado will avoid a trip to the injured list. The 34-year-old, who is officially day-to-day for now, is out of the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Pirates. He figures to get some additional time off to hopefully put the issue to bed. It’ll be Nolan Gorman handling the hot corner in his absence.

Arenado has been playing through a right finger issue that cropped up over the weekend when he jammed it on the basepaths. The 34-year-old defensive wizard will get Tuesday’s game off to rest and recover with Nolan Gorman taking over at the hot corner for the second straight game. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for the moment.

Nolan Gorman will take over at the hot corner on Monday night. The decision appears to be precautionary in nature after Arenado jammed his right index finger during Sunday’s lopsided win over the Guardians. The 34-year-old isn’t expected to miss any time, but he’ll get a break from the field, at least until the swelling subsides.

While those are not eye-opening numbers, Walker played the whole game in right field, which is more important to the Cardinals. He should play another game or two in the outfield to confirm he’s healthy enough for back-to-backs and then could return to St. Louis. How the team will manage starts between Walker, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Gorman, and Alec Burleson will be the bigger fantasy question.

Gorman’s three-run homer off Logan Allen in the first was the only scoring in the game through six innings. He later walked and scored a second run in the eighth. The homer was his second of the year against a left-hander. He’s 6-for-36 (.167) against them overall, but then he’s been in the lineup against a southpaw only eight times.

Gorman did his damage in the fourth inning, crushing a 2-1 fastball from Jameson Taillon for a 432-foot (106.5 mph EV) game-tying solo shot. He also singled twice in the ballgame. Hopefully this is just the type of game that he needs to get his bat going as he’s slashing an anemic .226/.322/.418 on the season with six homers and 21 RBI in his 171 plate appearances.

Gorman’s homer made it a 7-1 game in the fifth and ended Jose Quintana’s afternoon. With Brendan Donovan missing the last four games, Gorman has now gotten to start six straight games. Going into this stretch, he’d started just six of the Cardinals’ previous 21 games. He’s batting .321/.424/.714 in 33 plate appearances this month, so one imagines the Cardinals will stick with him after Donovan returns, which could result in less playing time for Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson and Pedro Pagés (since Iván Herrera would likely do less DHing).

Gorman has started four of the last five games for the Cardinals, playing third base, second base and designated hitter. In his last 10 games, Gorman is hitting .435 with two home runs, five RBI and a 7/2 K/BB ratio. With Brendan Donovan dealing with toe discomfort, there could be some extra playing time for Gorman in the immediate future.

Nootbaar takes a seat for the first time since May 23 after making 16 consecutive starts, hitting .194 (12-for-62) with one homer and 23 strikeouts during that span. It’ll be Masyn Winn moving back up to the leadoff spot with Brendan Donovan heading out to left field and Nolan Gorman covering second base. It’ll be interesting to see if Cardinals manager turns to Winn with greater frequency in the coming weeks since he’s hitting .302/.343/.429 with one homer and only six strikeouts over his last 15 games.

Gorman’s extra-base hit was a 111.6-mph double that bounced over the wall in right to lead off the bottom of the ninth in a 1-1 game. Gorman was then removed for a pinch-runner, who came around to score on a Nolan Arenado flyball single that would have been a routine out if the Dodgers hadn’t been using a five-man infield in a do-or-die situation. Gorman was starting for just the second time this week, as Arenado had the day off before his pinch-hitting appearance. He’s gone 7-for-16 with a homer in his four starts over the last two weeks, but the Cardinals don’t seem that interested in finding more playing time for him.