St. Louis Cardinals: The latest injury update on Jack Flaherty

DENVER — Before the St. Louis Cardinals began a three-game series at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night, St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol gave an injury update on starting pitcher Jack Flaherty.

St. Louis Cardinals injury update: Pitcher Jack Flaherty prepared for rehab start at Triple-A Memphis

Marmol said that the 26-year-old Flaherty is scheduled to start and throw 30 to 35 pitches for the St. Louis Cardinals‘ Triple-A affiliate in Memphis on Tuesday night. It will be his first rehab assignment since originally being put on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain on June 27. He was then moved to the 60-day injured list on July 11.

It’s the second time this season Flaherty has landed on the 60-day injured list with a shoulder issue. He has pitched in just three games for the Cardinals this season, starting games between June 15 and June 26, sporting a 5.63 ERA in eight innings of work.

After Tuesday’s rehab start, Marmol said it’s a matter of how Flaherty fares in his first outing to determine what lies ahead.

“It’s a matter of recovery and then putting him on a rotation where he’s building up to be a starter, but it will be based on how he comes out of each time he throws” Marmol said.

Marmol added that he didn’t want to put an innings count on Flaherty for his first outing in case it was a short first inning.

“We want to see him actually get to about 30 pitches,” Marmol said. “If he gets to 25 pitches in the first inning, I’d like him to go back out and get those other 10 pitches, whether that takes a hitter or two or whatever.”

If the Cardinals can have Flaherty return and be healthy in time for the postseason, it will be a solid boost for the rotation already buoyed by the acquisition of Jordan Montgomery at the MLB trade deadline.