chris carpenter injury

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter left Tuesday's 7-6, 10-inning loss to Arizona after three innings because of a strained left rib cage.

Carpenter had pitched three innings and allowed four hits before walking off the field in what’s become an all too familiar scene for the Cardinals. Carpenter’s health was a paramount issue for the Cardinals entering spring training as the righthander has had essentially the past two seasons robbed from him because of two elbow surgeries and a nerve condition in his shoulder.

Carpenter suffered the injury while swinging during an at-bat, and summoned the team trainer after throwing warmup pitches before the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Cardinals plan to re-evaluate the righthander Wednesday, and it is too early to tell how long the injury will keep him from pitching, officials said.

Carpenter completed his warmup tosses at the beginning of the fourth inning, but he and catcher Yadier Molina motioned for the trainer immediately after Molina threw to second base. Trainer Barry Weinberg and manager Tony La Russa converged on the mound, and after a brief discussion Carpenter walked off the field with Weinberg.

The Cardinals had just taken a 3-0 lead against Arizona on three doubles in fourth inning. Molina drove in two with his one-out line-drive double to left-center field. Two batters later Carpenter grounded out to third base to end the inning.

Carpenter, the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner, appeared in only five games over the previous two seasons because of elbow and shoulder injuries. He had appeared to return to his Cy Young form in his first start of the season, in which he allowed an unearned run on one hit in seven innings.

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