ST. LOUIS – After making the Opening Day roster with the St. Louis Cardinals and getting into the third game of the season for his MLB debut, right-handed reliever Matt Pushard reveled in the fact that he was finally getting to live out his life-long dreams.

Then, disaster struck and it was all taken away from the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder with the 97-mph heat.

Searing pain in Pushard’s right knee led to a 15-day stint on the IL that turned into a month-long stay in the Minor Leagues, a place Pushard worked to get out of after spending his previous four seasons at four levels of the Minors.

“Obviously, that was not on my bucket list,” Pushard said of the injury that briefly knocked him out of the big leagues. “(His right knee) was pretty sore and tight and it was the point where I would have been putting the team in jeopardy if I had tried to play. I wasn’t 100 percent, so that’s why I mentioned it (to the training staff).”

When the tendinitis in the right knee finally cleared and Pushard’s electric velocity returned, the 28-year-old was reinstated with the Cardinals on Saturday before their game against the Royals. Lefty reliever Jared Shuster was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Pushard.

In 11 appearances with Triple-A Memphis while working his way back into shape, Pushard was 1-1 with two holds, a save and a 3.55 ERA. He hit 97 mph with his four-seam fastball in his final outing with Memphis, giving the Cards hope he can help fortify their bridge relievers between the starting staff and JoJo Romero and Riley O’Brien at the end of games.

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“His (velocity) has ticked up and he has a pretty good arsenal for a reliever,” Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol said. “We haven’t had a chance to lay eyes on it for a lengthy stretch, so getting him back will be good.”

Looking to be opportunistic to add to their bullpen depth last December, the Cardinals claimed Pushard from the Marlins’ Minor League system in the Rule 5 Draft. Pushard’s chances of making the Opening Day roster seemed to dim a bit during Spring Training when he was hit with a bout of food poisoning, and the weakness that followed.

However, Pushard rallied and ultimately posted two holds, a save and a 3.12 ERA in eight Spring Training outings. More impressively, he struck out nine and walked just two in 8 1/3 innings of spring work.

“He was weak (after the illness) and the velo wasn’t what it normally was, so it was a bit of a hard evaluation,” Marmol admitted.

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Pushard could give Marmol another option for the sixth and seventh innings with veteran free-agent signee Ryan Stanek struggling throughout the season and George Soriano working to be more consistent. Stanek, who pitched well in relief in Friday’s 5-4 win over the Royals, has a 6.52 ERA over 22 outings. Soriano, a trade acquisition from the Nationals early in Spring Training, has been a revelation with his devastating changeup and he’s posted a 3.38 ERA over 20 appearances.

Pushard, who was forced to watch Cards games from afar while rehabilitating his injured knee in Memphis, hopes to bring value after having his MLB dream ripped away from him after just one outing.

“Getting food poisoning set me behind, and then obviously I got hurt, so this has been my first period of time to put up some appearances, have some success and learn from it and failures and try to learn from them and change it before next time,” Pushard said. “It’s my longest period of time I’ve been able to go. In the past – knock on wood – I haven’t been an injury-prone guy and I’m glad to get back here and get going.”

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