Carpenter bothered by soreness in right finger

ST. LOUIS — While struggling to produce since returning from an oblique injury in early August, Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter has acknowledged, at various points, that timing issues and trust in his oblique have held him back. Perhaps, now, there is another contributing factor in play.

Manager Mike Matheny divulged on Monday that Carpenter has been bothered for “a while” by a right middle finger injury. Discomfort in that finger has hurt Carpenter’s ability to finish through some of his swings and has sapped him of some grip strength. After noticing Carpenter wiggling his finger to try and get feeling back in it after an eighth-inning single on Sunday, Matheny determined that the infielder needed at least one day off.

Carpenter was not in the lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Reds.

“We’re trying to get ahead of that, but it just doesn’t look right right now,” Matheny said. “We need to get him into a good place. And if taking a day gets him into a good spot where he feels good about his swing and feels good about every part of his game, so be it. …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com