Is Cabrera the answer for the Cards' rotation?

ST. LOUIS -- Though they’ve seen glimpses over the past week of what Génesis Cabrera could one day grow to become, the Cardinals were also reminded in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Reds that perhaps the future isn’t quite ready for the present.

The curveball-fastball mix that has the organization giddy about Cabrera’s potential didn’t fool Cincinnati’s offense after it waited out an 80-minute rain delay at Busch Stadium. Not only was Cabrera unable to notch a strikeout, but he also did not generate a single swing-and-miss among the 95 pitches he threw.

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The Reds, who snapped St. Louis’ four-game winning streak with the victory, knocked the 22-year-old lefty around for four runs (three earned) on eight hits over 4 2/3 innings.

“The main thing that I’ve learned here is that you can miss once and you can get away with it. The second time, they will hit you,” Cabrera said, speaking through a translator. “Getting the ball down is, I think, one of the key points.”

Cabrera’s spot in St. Louis’ rotation is due back up on Sunday, when the Cardinals will face the Cubs in a nationally televised game under the Wrigley Field lights. It seems unlikely that Cabrera, who has finished a combined 8 1/3 innings in his first two big league starts, will be the one who makes it.

So what might the Cardinals do instead?

They aren’t lacking in other starting options, which is why the Cardinals all along intended to reevaluate Cabrera’s status after each outing. Those alternative options start down in Memphis, where Jake Woodford, Daniel Ponce de Leon and Alex Reyes have each been striving to make the case that they deserve the next chance.

There was some thought within the organization that Reyes could be ready following his start two days ago for the Triple-A club. But that was before he was knocked around for seven runs (including three home runs) over 4 2/3 innings.

Reyes traveled with Memphis for its series this week in Tacoma, Wash., and Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said on Tuesday that the former top prospect is expected to make another Triple-A start. That would remove him from consideration for St. Louis’ weekend series in Chicago.

“It sounds like the ball came out good, just too many pitches over the plate and they got hit,” Shildt said of Reyes first appearance with Memphis since fracturing his left pinkie finger. “It’s about controlling counts, and he wasn’t able to control them, it didn’t seem like, as consistently.”

Woodford, owner of a 3.06 ERA in 12 Triple-A starts this year, would be on turn to pitch Sunday. He allowed three runs over seven innings in a win on Tuesday. Ponce de Leon, who made a spot start for the Cardinals earlier this season, is slated to pitch for Memphis on Thursday, so he, too, would be plenty rested for the call.

The other direction the Cardinals could go is actually the one in which they came from, which would be to give the spot back to Michael Wacha. After a disastrous first appearance out of the ‘pen last week, Wacha followed Cabrera on Tuesday and shined.

Following a bullpen session earlier in the day in which he worked on getting his mechanics back in synch, Wacha scattered two hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out three over 2 1/3 scoreless innings. He did so while showcasing increased velocity, too.

Wacha’s fastball averaged 94.7 mph -- more than two mphs higher than his season average -- and touched 97.5 mph on the radar gun.

“I feel like I should be able to do that going out there every time,” Wacha said following his longest relief outing since 2016. “That’s where my expectations are. What I had been doing previously was not good and not up to my expectations.”

Though Wacha threw only 32 pitches before being lifted for a pinch-hitter, he’s not so far removed from starting that he couldn’t be stretched back out fairly quickly. The bigger question for the Cardinals is whether they feel Wacha has permanently solved the issues that led to an inflated ERA (5.59) and WHIP (1.69) in his nine starts this year.

“I liked Michael quite a bit,” Shildt said. “That was the Michael Wacha that we expect to see and he expects to see, and the velocity was there, plane was there, everything was crisp tonight. ... Maybe [it] just clicked [and he] needed a reset button.”

Asked whether one such performance was enough to recast Wacha’s role, Shildt answered in the affirmative.

“It’s something we’ve got to consider,” he said. “For sure.”