ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals will be without their leadoff hitter and Rookie of the Year candidate for at least a week, as they placed outfielder Dylan Carlson on the 10-day injured list prior to Tuesday’s big series opener against the Brewers with a right wrist sprain.

The move is retroactive to Aug. 14, after Carlson missed the entirety of the three-game set in Kansas City following an early exit in the series finale in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Carlson reported to Busch Stadium during Monday’s off-day to run through some tests and see how much his healing had progressed after the weekend off, especially when it came to swinging. Manager Mike Shildt said that Carlson came out having felt pretty good during the tests, but he woke up on Tuesday sorer than hoped, and the club felt it was best to give him extra time to recover.

Carlson was in an originally announced starting lineup for Tuesday’s series opener with Milwaukee but was then scratched. A few hours later, he was on the IL. Outfielder Austin Dean was called up from Triple-A Memphis in his sted.

“It’s a sore wrist, hopefully not more than that,” Shildt said. “But clearly, you use your wrist to hit and it's a very vital part of your game. It's something we just haven't been able to recover from and we'll get full treatment, and he went on the IL for a reason. Hopefully, he’ll be back sooner rather than later.”

The timing of Carlson’s ailment is also tricky. Paul DeJong missed the final two games in Kansas City with lower back stiffness. He went through his full pregame workout at Busch Stadium on Tuesday, but Shildt said they preferred to give him an extra day to recover. Playing two down on the bench with Carlson and DeJong, though, would have been less desirable.

Also not ideal is the Cardinals’ current situation, now without one of their most dependable hitters as they open up a three-game set against the Brewers at a time when they find themselves within striking distance of the second NL Wild Card spot, just four games back entering Thursday. Carlson has been central to the recent stretch of winning, slashing .359/.409/.513 in August.

Instead of continuing to fuel St. Louis atop the batting order, the 22-year-old faces the first injured list stint of his career.

Carlson is said to have felt his wrist flare up on him in Pittsburgh but was given the green light to play on Thursday. He then left after four innings in the series finale, but the Cardinals hope he does not have to miss much more time than the allotted 10 days, three of which have already been burned off due to the retroactive move.

Lars Nootbaar will see the bulk of starts in right field against right-handed pitching in Carlson’s absence, with José Rondón likely starting against lefties. Dean, who St. Louis called up in Carlson’s place, appeared in 18 games for the Cardinals in April but has played in just six games at any level since May as he recovered from a broken hamate bone.

Mikolas’ return set

The Cardinals elected to give Miles Mikolas an extra day of rest as he makes his second return from a lengthy injury this season, penciling him in for Friday’s series opener against the Pirates and giving Jon Lester Thursday’s series finale against the Brewers.

The decision goes along with the caution the Cardinals have exerted with Mikolas in this current recovery from right forearm tightness; after saying he could build himself back up at the Major League level, Mikolas was given five rehab starts, the last of which was seven innings for High-A Peoria on Saturday.

Also helping with the decision: Lester owns a career 3.05 ERA in 14 starts against a Brewers squad with a bevy of left-handed hitters. The Pirates provide Mikolas a bit of an easier landing spot.

When Mikolas returns, it’ll mark just his second official outing since the 2019 NLCS. The right-hander underwent surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right forearm last July, experienced a right shoulder injury in Spring Training and left his start on May 22 with the forearm ailment.