ST. LOUIS -- After leaving Sunday’s game vs. the Royals in the seventh inning due to discomfort in his left knee, Masyn Winn remained out of the Cardinals' starting lineup on Tuesday night for St. Louis' series opener vs. division-rival Pittsburgh at Busch Stadium.
Following hopes that a dose of rest on the team’s day off Monday would alleviate the ailment, Winn returned to the ballpark on Tuesday still feeling the effects.
As a result, Winn was scheduled to undergo an MRI before Tuesday’s game.
“He was slightly better, but still sore,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “So we wanted to make sure if we’re going to test it out, let’s get some imaging first and then we’ll start testing it out.”
Marmol described that, before taking steps to push Winn back toward game action, the team wanted to get eyes on anything he might be dealing with in the left knee area -- so, the MRI.
“We want to make sure that if we go day to day, we won’t push him through anything at all,” Marmol said, "that, if it’s as tolerated, that we’re not going to risk anything further.”
As far as the Cardinals' level of concern surrounding the potential injury, Marmol wasn’t ready to make a statement before he got a report back on the results of the imaging.
“Based on how he communicated right after the game, he wasn’t very concerned when I talked to him,” Marmol said. “He still didn’t seem very concerned. But we just want to make sure that it’s fine if we want us to go day to day and as tolerated, but that we’re not pushing through anything structural.”
Though it’s not the same knee that caused Winn’s Gold Glove-winning 2025 campaign to be cut short due to a late-season procedure, the Cardinals will certainly be keeping close tabs on his status -- particularly given how central he's been to the team's success on both sides of the ball.