Woodford pitches way into starting spot

ST. LOUIS -- There was a telling moment in Thursday’s series finale win over the Dodgers that showed Cardinals manager Mike Shildt a lot about his young battery. Pitcher Jake Woodford, finding himself in a two-out jam in the third inning, received a pair of mound visits from catcher Andrew Knizner.

The two formulated a gameplan. It wasn’t necessarily to pitch around the Dodgers’ heavy hitters but to try and get themselves to a matchup they preferred. That ultimately resulted in walking Justin Turner on five pitches, one more meeting between the brain trust, and then a one-pitch flyout from Cody Bellinger to escape the jam with just one run on the ledger.

Quite the effective mound visit.

“That was a big part of the game. I know it was early, but that was definitely an inning that could have gotten away from me,” Woodford said. “Just tried to stay present and take it one pitch at a time.”

Those were innings that didn’t quite go as smoothly earlier in the season.

Woodford, for his efforts Thursday and even before, has now been firmly entrenched in the Cardinals’ rotation, with the club revealing before Friday’s series opener against the Reds that he will start Tuesday’s game in New York. That will mark his second turn in place of Kwang Hyun Kim, who has been relegated to the bullpen after Woodford tossed 5 1/3 dominant innings in relief of Kim in Milwaukee.

The last aspect Woodford rattled off -- his aggression -- has appeared to be enhanced over this latest callup. The 24-year-old was sent down to Triple-A Memphis at the start of August with two goals: The first was to simply build his pitch count back up to be available to start. And the second was to get his rhythm back, maneuvering from more brief relief roles to long relief, and now into the rotation for the foreseeable future.

“I think he was starting to get more comfortable before he went back down, quite candidly,” Shildt said. “I saw him starting to get more acclimated to this league and starting to get more comfortable and confident that he can pitch in the league.

“But also there's a learning curve to this league, and I think he was going through it earlier and needed to go get those touches and work on some things and not be like he's under the microscope at every turn. But he’s pitching. He hadn’t pitched a lot of high-level baseball, and then he got back here and he's ready to go.”

Speaking of that rotation spot

Woodford has found his opportunity to start because of his effectiveness, but the spot opened up in the rotation because of Jack Flaherty’s right shoulder strain that he sustained on Aug. 24. Kim took Flaherty’s spot, and now Woodford has taken hold of Kim’s.

But there is good news for Flaherty. On Friday, Shildt gave the club’s most positive update on the right-hander since his injury, saying the Cardinals are optimistic that Flaherty can return in some form before the close of the season. But he acknowledged that doing so as a starter might be difficult.

Flaherty is scheduled to throw off a mound for the first time by Thursday after ramping up his throwing program Friday. How he reacts to his early sessions will give the Cardinals a firmer indication of how available he might be by season’s end. But finding himself on a mound will be a wholly positive first step.

“We're optimistic,” Shildt said. “I don't know what role for sure. … It's probably going to be harder for him to get back into a starter buildup. But still, I don't want to rule anything out.”