ST. LOUIS -- After missing five games, outfielder Stephen Piscotty rejoined the Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon and shared the reason behind taking some personal time to return home to California.
"I'm not going to beat around the bush, it's been discussed, the reason I went back was for my mom. Last Wednesday she was diagnosed with ALS, so it was a time to get back and spend some time with her," Piscotty said. "We watched all the games on the couch, she thought it would be a fun, weird idea to have me there watching. ... The whole family was able to come together and spend some time, kind of gather ourselves. My mom is very strong, so she's going to battle and we're going to be behind her."
Piscotty left the team Friday afternoon, although he had not been in the lineup for that evening's game against the Rockies as he was supposed to be taking a scheduled night off.
Leaving to be with his family was a decision that both the Cardinals organization and manager Mike Matheny gave their full support for and something they discussed with Piscotty when he learned the news.
"It's hard sometimes to get away from this and we need that support, and part of that support is that it's all right to go. There's life and tough stuff and home is the right place for you to be," Matheny said. "Our world revolves around winning for nine months out of the year and you tend to lose sight of, or at least kind of compartmentalize and put stuff off to the side on the back burner. I think that's how most the guys are wired, but when something like this comes up, it can't happen, you got to go deal with tough stuff."
Piscotty came off the disabled list on May 20 after missing 12 games due to a right hamstring sprain. 
"It feels good to be back. I needed to spend some time with my family, but we had a good weekend and it was time to get back to work," Piscotty said. "Especially raising three boys, [my mom's] a tough cookie."
Another Gyorko enters the world
Jedd Gyorko was missing from Tuesday's lineup for a very good reason. His wife Karley gave birth that night to the pair's third child, a baby girl. Brooklyn Ellee Gyorko was born at 7:46 p.m. CT. Both mom and baby are doing well. The pair also has twin boys.
"It was exciting, obviously any time you have a child, it's special," Gyorko said. "Spent time with Karley and to welcome [Brooklyn] into the world, it was a lot of fun."
Because the paternity rule allows for the team to designate a player 48 hours after the birth of a child, Gyorko will play both Wednesday and Thursday against the Dodgers, but he will miss Friday and Saturday's games in Chicago. He will rejoin the team on Sunday for the series finale against the Cubs.
"We love Jedd, Jedd's unique … he's just a one-man show, but he comes and competes," Matheny said. "I know that little girl's falling into a nice family. I'm excited for them and happy everything went really well."
Poncedeleon returns home
Minor League pitcher Daniel Poncedeleon, who underwent surgery on May 10 after being struck in the head by a line drive during a game against the Iowa Cubs, returned home on Wednesday. Poncedeleon started the season in Double-A, but was promoted to Triple-A Memphis on April 10. He had a 2.17 ERA over 29 innings before the injury.
His family had traveled to Iowa to be with him during the surgery.