Worth noting

• The Cardinals announced on Friday that Busch Stadium will host an exhibition soccer match on May 23 between Manchester City and Chelsea, both of the English Premier League. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. CT, and it will mark the first non-baseball, professional sporting event ever hosted at the stadium.

Tickets, priced $30 and up, will go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Tuesday. They can be purchased at the Busch Stadium Box Office and at cardinals.com/Soccer. Cardinals season-ticket holders can purchase tickets during a pre-sale on Monday.

• David Freese (lower back inflammation) accompanied the team to Port St. Lucie on Friday but will not travel to Phoenix for the opening series. Freese will remain in Florida so that he can get at-bats in extended Spring Training games next week. Because the Cardinals could backdate Freese's disabled-list assignment, the third baseman can be activated as early as April 7.

• Lefty Randy Choate allowed a single to Lucas Duda, the only Mets batter he faced on Friday, thereby extending his string of appearances without retiring a hitter to five. He was, though, not helped defensively by left fielder Adron Chambers, who couldn't come up with a catch that Matheny said Chambers would make "99 times out of 100."

The last out Choate recorded came on March 11.

• Joe Kelly pitched 1 2/3 innings on Friday in his first relief appearance since falling out of the competition for the fifth-rotation spot. Kelly allowed a hit and a walk, while striking out one. Matheny intends to keep Kelly's role in the bullpen flexible.