Cardinals Run of Luck with Pitchers Injuries Ends with Two Hurlers Potentially Heading to IL

Sadly, in life and sports, good luck always seems to have a shelf life, and when it ends a sharp regression to the mean usually tends to follow in the harshest of ways.

For the St. Louis Cardinals, their extended run of good luck with starting pitchers and arm injuries ended abruptly on Friday. And what followed was the kind of one-two punch that might finally knock the Cardinals out of playoff contention.

After incredibly going 23 months without a starting pitcher requiring a stint on the Injured List with an arm injury – an almost unheard of run of good luck in MLB circles – the Cardinals saw two starters go down with potentially serious arm injuries in a matter of about four hours on Friday night.

After testing out his ailing right elbow in a bullpen session on Friday afternoon, 12-game winner Andre Pallante was placed on the 15-day Injured List with inflammation in his right elbow. Then, after battling right forearm tightness late in his Friday night outing against the Phillies, right-hander Hunter Dobbins left his start one pitch into the fifth inning with that troubling pain.

Dobbins, who will undergo a series of tests on his forearm in the days ahead, is expected to join Pallante on the 15-day Injured List, so that Saturday’s starter, Quinn Matthews, can be recalled from Triple-A Memphis. Reliever Ryan Fernandez was recalled on Friday to take Pallante’s spot on the roster and to try and fortify a bullpen that has been overworked in recent weeks because of short stints by starters and tight scores.

The start date of Pallante’s IL stint is retroactive to Tuesday, and the Cards are hopeful that he might be ready to pitch again by early September. As for Dobbins, who yielded five hits, three walks and three earned runs in four-plus innings of work, the club is hopeful that they caught the injury before anything was seriously damaged in the 26-year-old pitcher’s forearm.

"We didn't want to push through it after he felt some tightness in the forearm," manager Oliver Marmol said to Cardinals TV following the Cards’ 7-6 loss to the Phillies in 10 innings on Friday night. "I was watching his warmups and didn't love it. I think he's going to be OK, but I'll have more information shortly. But I just didn't want him to push through it."

Prior to Friday, the Cardinals had not had to put a starting pitcher on the Injured List with an arm injury since Sept. 19, 2024. Even then, Sonny Gray was placed on the IL as a precautionary measure after the Cardinals had been eliminated from playoff contention.

The 2025 season was believed to be the first time since the World Series-winning year of 1982 that the Cardinals did not put a pitcher on the IL with an arm injury, per St. Louis PR.

Pallante had to battle for a starting spot this season after going 6-15 with a 5.31 ERA in a disastrous 2025 season. Pallante went 0-8 over his final 10 starts of 2025 and went into the offseason looking to revamp the shapes and the mix of his pitch arsenal.

The 27-year-old right-hander, who has been in the Cardinals organization since being picked in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB Draft, has rebounded in 2026 by going 12-6 with a 3.57 ERA in 24 starts. His 12 wins are tied for ninth in MLB and sixth in the National League. He was lifted after 88 pitches and after surrendering a season-high 10 hits on Monday in Cincinnati -- apparently the night when he injured his elbow.

As for Dobbins, he was bounced between a starting role and the bullpen and between Triple-A Memphis and the Cardinals early in the season. He moved into the starting rotation on a full-time basis after the Cardinals traded Dustin May and lefty reliever JoJo Romero to the Brewers at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Dobbins beat the Angels (zero earned runs, six strikeouts over six innings) on July 22, but he suffered tough-luck losses to the Yankees (two earned runs and four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings) and Phillies (one earned run and six strikeouts in five innings). However, he rebounded to beat the Cubs (two earned runs and seven strikeouts in five innings) in Wrigley Field on Aug. 16.

In 11 games (eight starts), Dobbins is 3-3 with one save and a 3.67 ERA. He has struck out 52 batters in 54 innings.