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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-nolan-arenado-explains-decision-veto-astros-trade');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado explains decision to veto Astros trade');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Nolan-Arenado.jpg"><figcaption>© Jeff Curry-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado explains decision to veto Astros trade</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-15T05:46:18-07:00">April 15th, 5:46am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-15T05:46:18-07:00">April 15th, 5:46am</time><address><a>Ryan Bologna</a>Ryan Bologna is an author at ClutchPoints. He studied journalism and communication at UConn.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>St. Louis Cardinals third baseman <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-nolan-arenado-brutally-honest-not-traded-offseason">Nolan Arenado was the topic of many trade rumors</a> over the winter, with his turning down a deal to go to the Houston Astros being arguably the most notable story related to him this offseason. Arenado explained that the Kyle Tucker trade was a part of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6279726/2025/04/14/astros-nolan-arenado-trade-veto-kyle-tucker/" rel="noopener">why he did not approve of the deal</a>.</p><p>“(Tucker) is one of the best players in the game. When you see a team trade him, 99 out of 100 players would probably be wondering, ‘What does that mean?’ That’s the question I asked myself,” Nolan Arenado said, via Chandler Rome of The Athletic.</p><p>Arenado is still a member of the Cardinals, as the team could not find another trade suitor during the offseason. Arenado also knew that if he had accepted a trade to the Astros, third baseman Alex Bregman would also be gone.</p><p>“And obviously if I went there, (Alex) Bregman wouldn’t have been going there — that’s another player,” Arenado said, via Rome.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/mlb-rumors-red-sox-nearly-traded-nolan-arenado-alex-bregman-signing">Bregman ended up departing for the Boston Red Sox</a> in free agency, taking away another potential Arenado destination. The Astros got Isaac Paredes along with Cam Smith and Hayden Wesneski from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Tucker, and also signed first baseman Christian Walker in free agency. After those moves, there was no more room for Arenado.</p><p>“I respect the Astros because they can’t just wait for me to make my decision,” Arenado said, via Rome. “They have to move on and they have to make their team better, which they did. They got Walker and they did some other things. I can see how it was taken as ‘no,’ but they know I didn’t say ‘no.’ It was more of, ‘I need to see how this all plays out first.'”</p><p>Arenado is off to a solid start this season, despite many believing that he has been in decline over the last few years. Hopefully that continues, as the Cardinals could make a playoff push, or eventually trade Arenado at the deadline if they are out of the race.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado explains decision to veto Astros trade

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-dealt-tough-masyn-winn-injury-update');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals dealt tough Masyn Winn injury update');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Masyn-Winn.jpg"></figure><h1>Cardinals dealt tough Masyn Winn injury update</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-12T15:12:55-07:00">April 12th, 3:12pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-12T15:21:23-07:00">April 12th, 3:21pm</time><address><a>Mike Gianakos</a>Mike Gianakos is the former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine, where he also spearheaded the video department and event production. He is a longtime podcaster and even longer suffering NY Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The St. Louis Cardinals are off to a slow start this season. The team is 6-7 and in third place in the NL Central entering play on Saturday. And after losing starting catcher <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-breakout-star-unfortunate-injury-timetable-after-scary-incident">Ivan Herrrera to a left knee injury</a>, the Cardinals will now be without their exciting young shortstop Masyn Winn.</p><p>Winn was <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/masyn-winn-on-injured-list-with-back-spasms?affiliateId=mlbapp-ios_webview_news-index&amp;rsid=mlbios.at.bat.new.implementation" rel="noopener">forced out of Friday’s game</a> with back spasms. Although he initially resisted being placed on the injured list, he landed on the 10-day IL Saturday as the Cardinals hope to address his back issue early in the season so it doesn’t persist, according to John Denton of MLB.com.</p><p>“He’s a competitor, but at the same time once we talked through it, he was like, ‘Man, I get it, but if this was a different time of year I’d really push. But I understand that it’s better to get this behind us and get it feeling good instead of letting this linger a couple of months,’” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of his conversation with Winn, per MLB.com. “So he definitely understood that.”</p><h2><b>The Cardinals lost shortstop Masyn Winn to a back injury</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Masyn-Winn-2.jpg"><figcaption>Joe Puetz-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Winn broke out last season in his first full year as the Cardinals’ starting shortstop. He slashed .267/.314/.416 with 15 home runs, 57 RBI, 85 runs scored and 11 stolen bases in 150 games for St. Louis. He also led all shortstops with 14 defensive runs saved last season.</p><p>Winn is hoping to improve on his rookie campaign, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-masyn-winn-bold-stolen-base-prediction-breakout-season">boldly predicting he’d steal 30 bases</a> in 2025. However, after 13 games, he has yet to attempt a steal.</p><p>During last season’s successful campaign, Winn also experienced back problems. “It was similar [to the spasms of 2024]. Last year was actually a little bit worse,” Winn said of his current injury, per MLB.com. “I’ve just got to get through this one after the muscles spasmed up.”</p><p>The Cardinals brought infielder Nolan Gorman back from a 10-day IL stint due to a hamstring strain. He’ll fill in at short until Winn is able to return from his back issue.</p><p>While <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-masyn-winn-scratched-marlins-spring-training-game">Winn was scratched from a spring training matchup</a> due to right wrist soreness, he was healthy by Opening Day. However, his back tightened up on him during the season, which contributed to Winn’s slow start. He’s slashing just .222/.314/.289 with one home run, three RBI and eight runs scored in 51 plate appearances in 2025.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals dealt tough Masyn Winn injury update

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-surprise-2025-season');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals’ biggest surprise early in 2025 season');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/St.-Louis-Cardinals-second-baseman-Brendan-Donovan-33-catches-the-ball-during-the-third-inning-against-the-Pittsburgh-Pirates-at-PNC-Park.jpg"><figcaption>Mandatory Credit: David Dermer-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cardinals’ biggest surprise early in 2025 season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-11T12:24:42-07:00">April 11th, 12:24pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-11T12:24:42-07:00">April 11th, 12:24pm</time><address><a>Zachary Draves</a>Zachary Draves is a sportswriter and broadcaster based in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. Zachary covers a variety of different sports as well as sports history, sport and society, and sport and culture. He is also a professor of sociology.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>. The St. Louis Cardinals may be starting the season a little sluggish with a 5-7 record. But they have seen a strong performance from second baseman Brendan Donovan, whom<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/cleveland-guardians/1-trade-guardians-must-make-during-offseason"> the Cardinals were rumored</a> to be trading to the Cleveland Guardians last year.</p><p>Donovan is <a href="https://www.mlb.com/stats/national-league/st-louis-cardinals/ops" rel="noopener">tearing it up</a>, batting .375, with 18 hits, two home runs, and 1o RBIs per MLB.com. Donovan is second in the National League in hits behind Kyle Tucker of the Chicago Cubs.</p><p>This is a far cry from his situation in 2023, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-st-louis-gets-crushing-brendan-donovan-injury-update">when he underwent elbow surgery</a> that left him sidelined.</p><p>He reemerged the following year playing in 153 games while batting .275, with 163 hits, 14 home runs, and 73 RBIs.</p><p>Now, he is the spark the Cardinals need to contend in a crowded National League Central Division loaded with talented teams. The good news for the Cardinals is that Donovan possesses the necessary tangibles needed to remain in contention.</p><h2><b>Brendan Donovan brings a vast array of skills to the Cardinals</b></h2><p>Donovan’s greatest strengths are versatility, offensive might, and leadership.</p><p>Throughout his career, he <a href="https://redbirdrants.com/cardinals-brendan-donovan-is-a-unicorn-amongst-utility-players-in-today-s-game" rel="noopener">has played</a> at least five positions, including first, third, left, and right, while also grabbing some stints at shortstop. Donovan has been compared to Ben Zobrist for being a versatile utility player.</p><p>Some contend that his versatility hampers his ability to be an effective offensive presence. But Donovan is the Cardinal’s leader in some notable offensive categories.</p><p>He is <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/brendan-donovan-discusses-his-custom-bats#:~:text=Donovan%2C%2028%2C%20boosted%20his%20power,that%20best%20fits%20his%20swing." rel="noopener">consistently leading</a> in hits, batting average, OPS, and on-base percentage.</p><p>Donovan has emerged as one of the Cardinals’ leaders both on and off the field. He is also known for being a mentor to young talent and consistently working on his craft.</p><p>He has been with the Cardinals since 2022. Later this year, Donovan is up for a contract negotiation to determine his long term prospects with the club.</p><p>He’s so far proven his unique capability to lead by example and be there for his team whenever necessary. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise if/when the Cardinals decide to keep him for the long haul as they strive to get back to prominence in a ever so dominant National League landscape.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals’ biggest surprise early in 2025 season

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/mlb-stories/mlb-news-lance-lynn-reveals-retirement-decision');   ga('set', 'title', 'Lance Lynn reveals what led to his retirement decision');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/MLB-news-Lance-Lynn-reveals-what-led-to-his-retirement-decision.jpg"></figure><h1>Lance Lynn reveals what led to his retirement decision</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-10T14:43:44-07:00">April 10th, 2:43pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-10T14:59:53-07:00">April 10th, 2:59pm</time><address><a>Mike Gianakos</a>Mike Gianakos is the former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine, where he also spearheaded the video department and event production. He is a longtime podcaster and even longer suffering NY Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Chicago White Sox</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Veteran pitcher Lance Lynn announced his <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-white-sox-st-louis-star-lance-lynn-announces-retirement">retirement from MLB</a> after the new season began. While several teams expressed interest in acquiring the free agent hurler, an agreement was not reached this offseason and Lynn ultimately decided to <a href="https://x.com/FoulTerritoryTV/status/1910385813482844628" rel="noopener">move on</a>.</p><p>“Here’s the gist of it; I started making plans and they didn’t involve baseball, so it was pretty obvious the choice to make,” Lynn explained via Foul Territory on X.</p><p>“I was enjoying being at home. The numbers [from] the teams weren’t lining up. So, the way I looked at it was, there’s no good time to retire. So why try to force something and be miserable? If that’s your last year, that wouldn’t have been fun. I enjoyed my last year in St. Louis. My family was there, everybody was there [for] my last start. My last start was in Busch Stadium in a win. So it was like, I started to look at it that way. Just go enjoy your life. That was pretty much it,” Lynn added.</p><h2><b>Lance Lynn hung up his cleats after 13 MLB seasons</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Lance-Lynn.jpg"><figcaption>Jeff Curry-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>The 37-year-old righty began his Major League career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, after the team selected him in the first round of the 2008 MLB draft. He spent his first six seasons with the Cardinals before becoming something of a journeyman.</p><p>Lynn pitched for six different teams over his 13-year career. He made two All-Star Games – with the Cardinals in 2012 and the Chicago White Sox in 2021. His first season with Chicago was probably his best, as he produced a career-high 163 ERA+ and finished third in Cy Young voting.</p><p>After a brief stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, Lynn returned to St. Louis on a <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-lance-lynn-reunite-mlb-free-agency-one-year-10-million-deal">one-year, $10 million deal</a> in 2024. It would end up being his final MLB season. He made 23 starts for the Cardinals last year, going 7-4 with a 3.84 ERA, 1.338 WHIP and 8.4 K/9.</p><p>However, Lynn missed significant time with right knee inflammation and his <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-lance-lynn-season-done-il-move">season ended on the injured list</a>. The Cardinals decided not to pick up his 2025 option, paying a $1 million buyout instead.</p><p>Lynn went 143-99 overall in the majors. He had a 3.74 ERA, 1.276 WHIP and 9.0 K/9 in 13 seasons as a starting pitcher.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Lance Lynn reveals what led to his retirement decision

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/pittsburgh-pirates/joey-barts-hilarious-reaction-to-first-career-walk-off-vs-cardinals');   ga('set', 'title', 'Joey Bart’s hilarious reaction to first career walk-off vs. Cardinals');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Joey-Bart-cover.jpg"></figure><h1>Joey Bart’s hilarious reaction to first career walk-off vs. Cardinals</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-09T20:02:14-07:00">April 9th, 8:02pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-09T20:02:14-07:00">April 9th, 8:02pm</time><address><a>Brayden Haena</a>Brayden Haena is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He's a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan and a football fanatic. In addition to sports writing, he works for Arizona Football in the Player Personnel and Recruiting department and formerly served as the Defensive Coordinator for Heritage High School.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Joey Bart didn’t just deliver a walk-off win — he delivered a postgame quote that’s already becoming legend in Pittsburgh. “Chest hair, gut’s out. Bucs win, baby. C’mon!” Bart shouted after smacking a walk-off single in the 13th inning of the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/editorials/cardinals-vs-pirates-prediction-odds-pick-4-9-2025">Pirates’ 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals</a> on Wednesday at PNC Park.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">"Chest hair, gut's out. Bucs win, baby. Cmon!" 🤣 </p><p>Joey Bart speaks following his first career walk-off hit 🏴‍☠️ <a href="https://twitter.com/mearshannah_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mearshannah_</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RaiseIt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RaiseIt</a> <a href="https://t.co/s8MthoaUWu">pic.twitter.com/s8MthoaUWu</a></p><p>— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) <a href="https://twitter.com/SNPittsburgh/status/1910062805136400839?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><p>The hit marked the first walk-off of Bart’s MLB career — and it capped a wild afternoon of gritty baseball that <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pirates-news-paul-skenes-calls-out-players-sell-team-chants">earned the Pirates their first series win of the season.</a> Bart’s deep fly to left drove in Andrew McCutchen from third, snapping a tense 3-hour, 23-minute marathon. And after 13 innings of squatting behind the plate, Bart <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=401695068" rel="noopener">had no problem going all in to end it.</a></p><p>“It was just best on best in that situation,” Bart said. “I was probably as loose as I was all day… Luckily, I got a ball in the air. I was just glad it was far enough to get a run across.”</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Raise the Jolly Roger 🏴‍☠️</p><p>Joey Bart wins it for the <a href="https://twitter.com/Pirates?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Pirates</a> in the 13th inning! <a href="https://t.co/dRXYu0Ba0L">pic.twitter.com/dRXYu0Ba0L</a></p><p>— MLB (@MLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1910060641722773691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p></figure><h2><b>Pirates walk off the Cardinals after a chaotic day</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Joey-Bart.jpg"><figcaption>Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>The game featured everything: stellar pitching, aggressive baserunning, clutch defense — and, of course, some chaotic moments. Pirates starter Mitch Keller rebounded from a rough outing against the Yankees to throw seven shutout innings with five strikeouts and three hits allowed. He notched his 700th career strikeout along the way, becoming the fastest pitcher in club history to reach that mark in terms of innings pitched (718 1/3), breaking Bob Veale’s record.</p><p>“You could just tell that was the kind of game it was going to be from the jump,” Keller said. “Really happy about it. More excited about the team win today.”</p><p>The Pirates got key defensive plays throughout the game, none more head-turning than Ke’Bryan Hayes’ alert tag at the plate in the eighth. After a high pop-up landed between Bart and Endy Rodriguez, Hayes swooped in to tag out Thomas Saggese before he could score.</p><p>“You want to talk about an 80-grade play in awareness?” manager Derek Shelton said. “That’s it.”</p><p>Bart admitted he was as confused as anyone.</p><p>“I don’t even know what happened,” he said. “I didn’t know who I hit. I didn’t see the ball. I don’t think anyone saw the ball.”</p><p>The Cardinals scored first in the 12th, but Tommy Pham tied the game with a two-out RBI single to left. Pham also threw out a runner at home earlier, preserving the tie in extras.</p><p>Bart nearly ended the game in the 11th with a single to right, but Lars Nootbaar threw out Alexander Canario at the plate. One inning later, Bart made sure no one could stop him — not even the wind swirling at chilly PNC Park.</p><p>“Sometimes they’re not pretty,” Shelton said, “but we’ll take it.”</p><p>And Bart? He’ll take the win — shirtless if he has to.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Joey Bart’s hilarious reaction to first career walk-off vs. Cardinals

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/mlb-stories/cardinals-news-bash-paul-skenes-career-worst-start');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals bash Paul Skenes in career-worst start');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/St.-Louis-Cardinals-players-celebrate-win-over-Pittsburgh-Pirates.jpg"><figcaption>© David Dermer-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cardinals bash Paul Skenes in career-worst start</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-09T08:55:22-07:00">April 9th, 8:55am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-09T08:55:46-07:00">April 9th, 8:55am</time><address><a>Benjamin Adducchio</a>Benjamin Adducchio is a journalist and writer with more than a decade of experience in covering sports news. Ben is a passionate sports fan who loves college football, basketball, and the New York Yankees.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The St. Louis Cardinals got the bats going against the Pittsburgh Pirates Tuesday. St. Louis pummeled Pirates ace Paul Skenes, en route to a 5-3 victory at PNC Park.</p><p>It turned out to be <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44595652/pirates-skenes-career-worst-5-runs-loss-cardinals" rel="noopener">the worst performance</a> from Skenes in his Major League Baseball career.</p><p>“It’s not like they hit the ball into the river or anything like that,” Skenes said after giving up five runs, per ESPN. “They just found some holes and I got behind in some counts and kind of let them get good swings off. Not going to sweat it. It is what it is.”</p><p>In 26 MLB starts, Skenes had never allowed five runs in an outing. That run is now over, as <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pirates-news-paul-skenes-calls-out-players-sell-team-chants">the Pirates fell to 4-8 on the year</a> following a cold game in Pittsburgh.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/cardinals-news-ivan-herrera-strong-message-cardinals-fans-unfortunate-injury">The Cardinals are looking to stop a skid</a>. St. Louis had lost six of their last seven games, before the victory over Skenes.</p><h2><b>The Cardinals got the offense going early against Paul Skenes</b></h2><p>St. Louis scored three runs in the third inning, to keep Skenes off-balance. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/pirates-news-paul-skenes-learning-pitches-adding-2-more">The Pirates pitcher is mixing in some new pitches</a> to his repertoire this season. The Cardinals attacked him throughout his outing Tuesday, working aggressively against him and grinding out singles that led to runs.</p><p>“We haven’t seen a lot of rough ones [from him],” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “But everything that has been on his plate, he’s handled very well. I expect him to come out the next time and be what we expect.”</p><p>This season, Skenes holds a 3.44 ERA after three starts. He has allowed seven runs, with five of them coming on Tuesday.</p><p>Skenes said his pitches struggled to hit the sweet spots around the plate.</p><p>“It’s funny, a lot of the times you get away with those,” Skenes said about throws that got to the middle of the plate. “Just didn’t get away with them today. Kind of is what it is.”</p><p>The Cardinals and Pirates play again on Wednesday afternoon. Following Tuesday’s win, St. Louis is now 5-6 on the campaign.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals bash Paul Skenes in career-worst start

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-breakout-star-unfortunate-injury-timetable-after-scary-incident');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals’ breakout star gets unfortunate injury timetable after scary incident');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Ivan-Herrera_46ae91.jpg"><figcaption>© Eric Canha-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Cardinals’ breakout star gets unfortunate injury timetable after scary incident</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-08T05:42:08-07:00">April 8th, 5:42am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-08T05:42:08-07:00">April 8th, 5:42am</time><address><a>Ryan Bologna</a>Ryan Bologna is an author at ClutchPoints. He studied journalism and communication at UConn.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The St. Louis Cardinals <a href="https://lancasteronline.com/sports/mlb/cardinals-catcher-iv-n-herrera-is-expected-to-miss-4-weeks-because-of-a-bone/article_48af501f-4426-574b-bb4c-8b46ef7f5fd3.html?itm_source=parsely-api" rel="noopener">have placed catcher</a> Ivan Herrera on the 10-day injured list due to a bone bruise in his left knee, according to the Associated Press.</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-early-season-superstar-helped-off-field-with-scary-injury">Herrera got hurt on Sunday</a> in the first game of a doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox, and is expected to be out for four weeks. To fill the void, the Cardinals are expected to use Pedro Pages for the majority of the time that Herrera is out, while Yohel Pozo was brought up from Triple-A as well.</p><p>Initially, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-ivan-herrera-strong-message-cardinals-fans-unfortunate-injury">Herrera was unable to put weight</a> on his left leg and needed to be helped off the field before further testing, which came out clean, and was a relief for Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.</p><p>“It was really good news,” Marmol said, via the Associated Press. “The way his knee buckled, I thought it might be an ACL tear.”</p><p>It is an unfortunate break for Herrera, as he was off to a hot start, <a href="https://www.mlb.com/player/ivan-herrera-671056" rel="noopener">batting .381 with</a> a .458 on-base percentage with four home runs, according to MLB.com. This was the first year for Herrera as the full-time starter for the Cardinals, so hopefully he can pick back up where he left off when he is healthy again. He is part of the young core that the Cardinals are hoping to build around for the long-term.</p><p>The Cardinals are off to a 4-6 start to the season after losing four straight. They were swept over the weekend against the Boston Red Sox, then lost 8-4 on Monday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They will look to rebound on Tuesday against the Pirates in the second game of a three-game series.</p><p>In the meantime, the Cardinals will try to stay afloat while Herrera recovers from his injury. If all goes well with recovery, he should be back at some point in May.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals’ breakout star gets unfortunate injury timetable after scary incident

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-ivan-herrera-strong-message-cardinals-fans-unfortunate-injury');   ga('set', 'title', 'Ivan Herrera shares strong message to Cardinals fans after unfortunate injury');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Ivan-Herrera.jpg"><figcaption>Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Ivan Herrera shares strong message to Cardinals fans after unfortunate injury</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-06T22:17:17-07:00">April 6th, 10:17pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-06T22:17:17-07:00">April 6th, 10:17pm</time><address><a>Brayden Haena</a>Brayden Haena is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He's a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan and a football fanatic. In addition to sports writing, he works for Arizona Football in the Player Personnel and Recruiting department and formerly served as the Defensive Coordinator for Heritage High School.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Just days after launching three home runs in a single game and lighting a fire under the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/cardinals-early-season-superstar-helped-off-field-with-scary-injury">St. Louis Cardinals’ offense, catcher Iván Herrera was helped off the field</a> Sunday afternoon with an apparent knee injury. But despite the scare, Herrera <a href="https://x.com/katiejwoo/status/1909080389521375689" rel="noopener">delivered a hopeful message</a> to fans shortly after.</p><p>“I’ll be back soon,” Herrera said, per The Athletic’s Katie Woo. Manager Oliver Marmol echoed that sentiment, stating the team had “avoided a bad situation” after tests confirmed Herrera’s knee remained structurally sound. The diagnosis: inflammation in his left knee, enough to land Herrera on the injured list<a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44561584/cardinals-catcher-ivan-herrera-exits-knee-inflammation" rel="noopener"> but not serious enough</a> to suggest long-term damage.</p><p>The injury occurred during <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/rafael-devers-historic-180-degree-turn-after-brutal-start-to-red-sox-season">Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader in against the Red Sox</a>. Herrera was running the bases when he came up hobbling on his way from first to third on a Nolan Arenado double. He was unable to put weight on his left leg and had to be helped off by trainers and manager Marmol. He did not return for the second game.</p><h2><b>Ivan Herrera will return to the Cardinals after a short stint on the IL</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Ivan-Herrera-cover.jpg"></figure><p>Though the loss of Herrera is a blow, the Cardinals are breathing a sigh of relief that it’s not something more serious. The 23-year-old catcher has been on an absolute tear to open the 2025 season, hitting .400/.455/1.100 through 22 plate appearances with four homers and seven RBIs. His offensive explosion, including a three-homer game against the Angels, turned heads across the league.</p><p>“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Marmol told ESPN’s Buster Olney during the Sunday night broadcast. “We’re lucky with this one.”</p><p>While Herrera heals, the Cardinals will turn to Pedro Pagés to handle the bulk of catching duties. Pagés, who replaced Herrera midgame Sunday, has had a solid start in limited action, going 4-for-10 with a double and a homer. While not expected to replicate Herrera’s offensive ceiling, Pagés provides steady defense and respectable contact hitting.</p><p>Behind Pagés, the Cardinals are calling up Yohel Pozo, who will need to be added to the 40-man roster. Pozo hasn’t played in the majors since a brief stint with the Rangers in 2021 but brings a solid bat. He’s been a consistent performer at the Triple-A level, boasting a career .321/.343/.545 slash line in 329 games. He won’t match that production in the bigs, but the Cardinals are hopeful he can provide some punch while Herrera recovers.</p><p>Interestingly, the team continues to avoid using Willson Contreras behind the plate, even in emergencies. Contreras, now stationed at first base full-time, didn’t catch during either game of the doubleheader despite his background as a longtime starting catcher. For now, St. Louis will rely on Pagés and Pozo, but Herrera’s bat and presence will be sorely missed. Fortunately for the Cardinals — and their fans — his message was clear: this isn’t goodbye for long.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Ivan Herrera shares strong message to Cardinals fans after unfortunate injury

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/boston-red-sox/rafael-devers-historic-180-degree-turn-after-brutal-start-to-red-sox-season');   ga('set', 'title', 'Rafael Devers’ historic 180-degree turn after brutal start to Red Sox season');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rafael-Devers-2.jpg"></figure><h1>Rafael Devers’ historic 180-degree turn after brutal start to Red Sox season</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-06T21:57:15-07:00">April 6th, 9:57pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-06T21:57:15-07:00">April 6th, 9:57pm</time><address><a>Brayden Haena</a>Brayden Haena is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He's a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan and a football fanatic. In addition to sports writing, he works for Arizona Football in the Player Personnel and Recruiting department and formerly served as the Defensive Coordinator for Heritage High School.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Boston Red Sox</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Just one week ago, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/red-sox-news-fans-clown-rafael-devers-miserable-slump-season-start">Rafael Devers looked lost at the plate.</a> Now, he’s making history. The Boston Red Sox slugger has flipped the script in a dramatic way, becoming the first player in modern MLB history to go hitless with 15 or more strikeouts across a five-game span — and then collect 10 or more hits in his next five games. It’s <a href="https://x.com/OptaSTATS/status/1909084059315109994" rel="noopener">a remarkable turnaround</a>, and it’s helping fuel a red-hot stretch for the Red Sox, who’ve now won five straight games.</p><p>Devers was <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/red-sox-news-rafael-devers-nightmare-finally-over">front and center in Sunday’s offensive explosion, going 4-for-4</a> with three RBIs in Boston’s 18-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the nightcap of a doubleheader sweep at Fenway Park. It marked the 14th four-hit game of his career and <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44566775/bregman-6-rbis-devers-4-hits-keys-blowout-win-vs-cardinals" rel="noopener">further cemented his bounce-back</a> stretch after an abysmal start to the season.</p><p>“He hasn’t been swinging and missing, he’s not chasing, and he’s staying in the zone,” manager Alex Cora said. “Little by little, the swing is back to normal. That was impressive.”</p><h2><b>Rafael Devers, Red Sox on an offensive tear</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rafael-Devers-3.jpg"><figcaption>Eric Canha-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Devers’ first homer of the season came in Game 1 of the doubleheader — a 393-foot shot to the opposite field off Andre Pallante that brought the Fenway faithful to life. The blast snapped a 110-plate-appearance drought dating back to last August and seemed to mark the end of his early-season slump. That game also featured a bases-loaded walk from Devers in the ninth that helped force extra innings, setting the stage for Wilyer Abreu’s walk-off single off the Green Monster.</p><p>Through the first five games of 2025, Devers was 0-for-19 with a staggering 15 strikeouts — setting a dubious record for the most punchouts by any player in the first five games of a season. Now, he’s riding a five-game hitting streak and looking like the offensive force Boston has relied on for years.</p><p>“We know that he started the year slow, but we know that he’s going to have a monster year, as he always does,” Abreu said. “So we were very happy for him that he got the first one today.”</p><p>The Red Sox’s breakout wasn’t limited to Devers. Boston erupted for 22 hits in Sunday’s nightcap, with Alex Bregman driving in six runs and Abreu adding three more. Rookie right-hander Hunter Dobbins pitched five solid innings in his major league debut, earning the win in a game that quickly turned into a rout.</p><p>While Devers’ bounce-back has grabbed the headlines, it’s the overall balance in Boston’s lineup that’s turning heads. Bregman, acquired in the offseason, tied a career high with four hits. Abreu, meanwhile, is off to a scorching .522 start with three homers and nine RBIs <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/rafael-devers-hits-first-2025-home-run" rel="noopener">through his first seven games.</a></p><p>“We’re getting there,” Cora said. “This team is starting to click.” And with Devers finally locked in at the plate, the Red Sox are looking more dangerous by the day.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Rafael Devers’ historic 180-degree turn after brutal start to Red Sox season

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-early-season-superstar-helped-off-field-with-scary-injury');   ga('set', 'title', 'Cardinals early-season superstar helped off field with scary injury');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Ivan-Herrera-cover.jpg"></figure><h1>Cardinals early-season superstar helped off field with scary injury</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-06T19:24:33-07:00">April 6th, 7:24pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-06T19:24:33-07:00">April 6th, 7:24pm</time><address><a>Brayden Haena</a>Brayden Haena is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He's a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan and a football fanatic. In addition to sports writing, he works for Arizona Football in the Player Personnel and Recruiting department and formerly served as the Defensive Coordinator for Heritage High School.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Boston Red Sox</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/cardinals-catcher-makes-franchise-history-144-years-in-the-making">St. Louis Cardinals’ promising young catcher Iván Herrera</a> gave fans quite a scare on Sunday after suffering a lower-body injury that forced him to be <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44561584/cardinals-catcher-ivan-herrera-exits-knee-inflammation" rel="noopener">helped off the field</a> during Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox.</p><p>In the third inning, Herrera was hustling from first to third on a double down the left-field line by Nolan Arenado when he came up limping. After the next batter, Luken Baker, popped out to end the inning, Herrera was visibly unable to put any weight on his left leg. Manager Oliver Marmol and team trainers immediately rushed to his side and helped him off the field and into the clubhouse.</p><p>Later in the day, the Cardinals provided relief for a fanbase already holding its breath. The team announced Herrera had suffered inflammation in his left knee — no torn ligaments, no fractures. Just a tough blow, but not a season-ending one.</p><p>Manager Oliver Marmol shared more details with ESPN’s Buster Olney during the nightcap of the doubleheader, saying the team “avoided a bad situation” and that the injury “could have been a lot worse.” Still, the 24-year-old catcher is headed to the injured list, with Pedro Pagés stepping in behind the plate.</p><h2><b>Cardinals drop both games of the doubleheader to Red Sox, Ivan Herrara will miss time</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Ivan-Herrera.jpg"><figcaption>Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>Herrera had been one of the early-season bright spots for the Cardinals. After spending the last few years as a top prospect and shadowing veterans like Yadier Molina and Willson Contreras, Herrera finally found his footing in 2025. He’s been a steady presence both offensively and defensively, showing off improved footwork and decision-making behind the plate — as evidenced in the second inning, when he lunged to his right to complete a force at home, keeping his foot on the plate in a smooth, heads-up play.</p><p>Offensively, Herrera’s hot bat has helped spark a surprising start to the Cardinals’ season. Alongside Nolan Arenado — who’s suddenly heating up again after a quiet offseason filled with trade rumors — Herrera was helping St. Louis stay competitive in a loaded National League.</p><p>Now, the Cardinals will have to manage without him, at least for a little while. While there’s still no definitive timetable for his return, early indications suggest a short stint on the IL rather than anything long-term.</p><p>The timing is tough, though. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/red-sox-news-trevor-story-celebration-home-run-cardinals">With the Cardinals dropping Game 1 of the doubleheader 5-4</a> and still looking to stabilize their pitching staff, losing a reliable backstop like Herrera hurts. His chemistry with the rotation, ability to control the running game, and consistent at-bats won’t be easy to replicate.</p><p>Still, considering how it looked in real time, the diagnosis of knee inflammation is about as positive as it could get. Now it’s just a matter of recovery and making sure Herrera gets back at full strength — because the Cardinals are going to need him if they want to keep this early-season momentum going.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Cardinals early-season superstar helped off field with scary injury

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-st-louis-102-mph-closer-surprised-lack-trade');   ga('set', 'title', 'Even the Cardinals’ 102 mph closer was surprised at lack of trade');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Ryan-Helsley-with-STL-Cardinals-1.jpg"><figcaption>Jeff Curry-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><h1>Even the Cardinals’ 102 mph closer was surprised at lack of trade</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-06T13:00:11-07:00">April 6th, 1:00pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-06T13:00:11-07:00">April 6th, 1:00pm</time><address><a>Christopher Hennessy</a>Christopher Hennessy graduated with a journalism degree from Fordham University in 2022. He has also worked at Spectrum News One in Albany, New York and with The Hockey Writers as a New York Islanders writer. Chris is originally from Connecticut and is a lifelong New York Yankees, Islanders, and Jets fan.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">MLB</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The St Louis Cardinals are off to a mediocre start this season. After an Opening Weekend sweep of the Minnesota Twins, they <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/los-angeles-angels/angels-news-mike-trout-loves-cardinals-st-louis">dropped a series to the Los Angeles Angels</a> and the first game of three to the Boston Red Sox. Their 4-3 record should not be fooling anybody; they are starting to rebuild. This o<a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/st-louis-cardinals/cardinals-news-nolan-arenado-focus-vetoing-astros-trade">ffseason, they tried to trade Nolan Arenado</a> but could not find the right suitor. Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley was on the trade block as well and spoke to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44533792/mlb-2025-st-louis-cardinals-rebuilding-transition-contending-nl-central" rel="noopener">about that experience</a>.</p><p>“I’ll be the first to admit, I thought I was gone for sure,” Helsley told Rogers. “I mean if it’s a reset, and this is my walk year, I thought I would be first to go. I was kind of surprised they brought me back.”</p><p>Helsley will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, which makes him a prime target for the trade deadline. The Cardinals should be active at the deadline, as there are other pending free agents on their team. This season also marks a transition from John Mozeliak to Chaim Bloom as their general manager. The former told Rogers why they are looking to rebuild.</p><p>“Our business model has changed. There’s less revenue on the TV side, we have less revenue on the ticket-sale side right now. We’re trying to make adjustments as best we can. The one lever to pull is payroll when you’re dealing with that.”</p><p>The Cardinals had 22 winning seasons from 2000-2022, with the only outlier coming in 2007. But after consecutive losing campaigns, the tide is changing in St Louis. <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/cardinals-chaim-bloom-set-to-lead-st-louis-rebuild">Bloom is coming in after a year of refurbishing their minor-league operations</a>. They hope that a new era of Cardinals baseball starts with Bloom after an active trade deadline. Helsley should be among the first go.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Even the Cardinals’ 102 mph closer was surprised at lack of trade

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/mlb/boston-red-sox/red-sox-news-alex-coras-truth-red-sox-lineup-13-runs-cardinals');   ga('set', 'title', 'Alex Cora’s scary truth bomb on Red Sox lineup after 13 runs vs Cardinals');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Alex-Bregman-cover.jpg"></figure><h1>Alex Cora’s scary truth bomb on Red Sox lineup after 13 runs vs Cardinals</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2025-04-05T00:09:19-07:00">April 5th, 12:09am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2025-04-05T00:09:19-07:00">April 5th, 12:09am</time><address><a>Brayden Haena</a>Brayden Haena is an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints. He's a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan and a football fanatic. In addition to sports writing, he works for Arizona Football in the Player Personnel and Recruiting department and formerly served as the Defensive Coordinator for Heritage High School.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">Boston Red Sox</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>After a sluggish first week of the season, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/red-sox-news-trevor-story-celebration-home-run-cardinals">the Boston Red Sox lineup came alive in their home opener on Friday</a> — and manager Alex Cora wasn’t surprised. <a href="https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2025/04/a-week-into-the-season-red-sox-offense-finally-gets-unlocked-sean-mcadam.html" rel="noopener">He knows what this group is capable of.</a></p><p>“I think we have that type of offense,” Cora said postgame. “We have those three guys — Duran, Devers, Bregman — and any day, we can score quick. And when Casas and Trevor and the rest of them are swinging the bat the way they were, we become very dangerous.”</p><p>The Red Sox exploded for 13 runs and 16 hits in a 13-9 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park, their third straight victory. Boston scored five in the first inning, highlighted by back-to-back homers from Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu. Every starter reached base, and eight of nine had at least one hit.</p><h2><b>Red Sox lineup is starting to heat up</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rafael-Devers.jpg"><figcaption>Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images</figcaption></figure><p>The outburst was a stark contrast to last weekend in Texas, where <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/red-sox-news-alex-bregmans-message-home-opener-cardinals-fire-up-fans">the Sox went 4-for-35 with runners in scoring position</a> and managed just six total runs over three games. Even their first win in Baltimore was powered by Garrett Crochet’s shutout performance more than anything from the bats. But now? The offense looks like it’s found its footing.</p><p>“I love the fact that we didn’t stop [scoring],” Cora said. “It was a good offensive performance.”</p><p>Rafael Devers, fresh off a rough start to the season, reached base four times and added an RBI single in the seventh. Alex Bregman recorded two hits in his Fenway debut, and Story added four RBIs. Even the bottom of the order chipped in — Kristian Campbell, Carlos Narvaez, and Ceddanne Rafaela combined for three hits, five walks, four RBIs and four runs.</p><p>Bregman, who stayed optimistic through the team’s early struggles, said the last few games have shown what this lineup can do.</p><p>“It felt great to see the offense pass the torch,” he said. “Over the course of time, the cream always rises to the top. I feel like this lineup can do special things.” It may have taken nearly a week to get there, but the Red Sox finally look like the team they believed they’d be. And Cora’s warning to the rest of the league? This is just the beginning.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Alex Cora’s scary truth bomb on Red Sox lineup after 13 runs vs Cardinals

2025 SEASON STATS
BA	HR	RBI	OPS	SB
.222	0	0	0.522	0

2025 SEASON STATS
BA	HR	RBI	OPS	SB
.222	0	0	0.522	0

Mike
Siani

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• Even the Cardinals’ 102 mph closer was surprised at lack of trade

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Mike
Siani