The league-leading St. Louis Cardinals will finish the remainder of the regular season and will head to the playoffs without starting pitcher Carlos Martinez who sustained a strained shoulder.
Martinez felt the injury during last Friday's start against the Milwaukee Brewers, leaving the game after only seven pitches.
ESPN reported that the right-hander from the Dominican Republic met with trainers and Cardinals manager Mike Matheny on the mound after feeling the pain on his right shoulder.
Following that, Martinez left the field covering his face with his glove and was clearly in pain.
Reports say the injury will not need surgery and according to ESPN, first tests results were positive but a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a strained shoulder.
ESPN added in their report that Martinez, who offered the current Major League Baseball (MLB) season to fellow Dominican and late teammate Oscar Taveras, was "broken up," according to Matheny, upon learning that he will be out for the rest of the year.
Taveras was a budding major league player with St. Louis who died in a car crash on Oct. 26 last year in their home country.
Martinez played a total of 31 games this regular season which included 29 starts and holds a 14–7 record.
The 24-year-old pitcher has a 3.01 earned run average (ERA), 184 strikeouts, and 1.29 walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP).
The loss of Martinez will be giving pitchers Lance Lynn, John Lackey, Michael Wacha, and Jaime Garcia a chance to pitch more innings with the club continuing their campaign this season.
St. Louis recently split their home series with the Milwaukee Brewers at 2–2 and will have two more series before finishing the regular season.
The Cardinals will be on the road for their last two three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which will begin today until Wednesday, and the Atlanta Braves on Oct. 2–4.
