Right-handed reliever Matt Pushard, who made the Cardinals' Opening Day roster following a strong Spring Training, continues to work his way back to the big-league club after battling through right patellar tendinitis and some pitching stuggles in Triple-A.

Pushard, 28, was placed on the 15-day Injured List on March 31, retroactive to March 30, but he has remained in Memphis while struggling against Triple-A hitters. In 6 2/3 innings of work for Memphis, he's 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA and hitters have batted .280 against him. More troubling: Pushard has just two strikeouts in his six Triple-A appearances.

"We're going to task him with several more outings that will mimic kind of what his usage will look like here," Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol said on Saturday. "That will be over the course of this week."  

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Pushard made the Opening Day roster after striking out nine over 8 2/3 innings of work in Spring Training. His MLB debut came in a lopsided loss to the Rays, and he allowed three hits, a walk and three earned runs in one inning of work.