Cardinals: Jack Flaherty leaves start with concerning shoulder injury

St. Louis Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty left Tuesday night’s start with a concerning injury.

The St. Louis Cardinals are still in the postseason picture, as they were just 4.5 games behind the rival Cincinnati Reds for the final NL Wild Card spot entering Tuesday night. To do so, they would need their roster to be fully healthy for the remainder of the season. They received quite the scare during their game against the Detroit Tigers.

After surrendering back-to-back solo home runs to Robbie Grossman and Miguel Cabrera, Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty exited the game alongside the team trainer. Daniel Ponce de Leon entered the game for Flaherty. The Cardinals announced that Flaherty left the game due to right shoulder tightness.

Cardinals: Jack Flaherty leaves game with right shoulder tightness

Back on May 31, Flaherty left St. Louis’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was then placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain. The right-handed pitcher would not return until Aug. 13, where he struck out five batters in six innings in a 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals.

Through 13 games this season, Flaherty recorded a 2.68 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP, 80 strikeouts and 21 walks over 74.0 innings of work.

If the Cardinals are to make a run at the postseason, they’ll need arguably their best pitcher healthy. We will continue to keep you updated on Flaherty’s status once more details are provided by the team.