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Cardinals playing with short bench, bullpen

ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals faced the Mets on Tuesday with both a short bench and bullpen after opting not to make a roster move prior to the second game of the three-game set. Manager Mike Matheny said the club will re-evaluate the roster situation after Tuesday's game to determine if a callup needs to be made before the series finale.

As of now, the Cardinals' eight-man bullpen is down to six available relievers for the rest of this series, as Carlos Martinez (59 pitches) and Nick Greenwood (60 pitches) will need a few days to recover from their extended appearances on Monday.

Yet Greenwood, who likely would have been the one sent out had a move been made, was able to limit the rest of the load put on the bullpen by taking the reins from Martinez and pitching into the eighth in his Major League debut. Randy Choate then faced two batters, and Seth Maness closed the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

"The way we look at it is because Seth, Carlos and Nick did what they did, we have a pretty healthy 'pen right now," Matheny said. "If we need to change that tomorrow, we have the ability to do that without making a quick move just to get us through today, where we feel we're pretty well covered."

The Cardinals have been playing with a four-man bench since summoning Greenwood on Sunday. The organization's preference is to add that fifth position player back as soon as possible. At the latest, that should happen once the Cardinals confirm that Adam Wainwright will make his scheduled start on Saturday. By that point, Martinez will have gotten his needed rest and a reliever (most likely Greenwood) can then be swapped for the extra hitter.

Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, By Gosh, It's Langosch, and follow her on Twitter @LangoschMLB.
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