3 things to watch for in Cardinals-Phillies National League Wild Card Game 2

3 things to watch in Cardinals-Phillies Game 2: What will the St. Louis bullpen look like?

After starter Jose Quintana left Friday’s game following 5.1 innings of work, St. Louis used four relievers, including the two players who had racked up the most saves for the team this season in Ryan Helsley (19) and Giovanny Gallegos (14).

Helsley, after suffering numbness in his middle finger on his throwing hand, will almost certainly be unavailable on Saturday (especially after throwing 33 pitches on Friday). Gallegos went 1.1 innings against the Phillies, racking up 19 pitches, so his availability for Saturday is in question as well.

With all of that in mind, if the Cardinals are up by one run heading into the ninth inning, who will Marmol call upon to lock down the win? Zack Thompson and Packy Naughton each have one save on the season and will be in the Cardinals bullpen, and Marmol did have veteran starter Jack Flaherty up in the bullpen in the ninth inning on Friday, choosing to go with ground ball specialist Andre Pallante instead.

“We’ve had guys step up all year,” Marmol said. “If he (Helsley) goes down, someone else has to step up and do that job. So it’s part of it. No one is going to feel sorry for us, I’ll tell you that.”