Largely healthy for most of the season while serving as one of MLB’s surprise teams, the St. Louis Cardinals have been hard by injuries in recent weeks. Not surprisingly, the Cards' push for a playoff spot has taken a hit as injuries to Masyn Winn, JJ Wetherholt, Blaze Jordan, Everson Pereira and Peter Strzelecki have piled up in recent weeks.

Winn, the reigning Gold Glove winner at shortstop in the National League, returned from a stint on the Injured List and a fractured left thumb on Tuesday, but soreness in the joint resurfaced and knocked him out of Wednesday’s 7-6 loss to the Giants.

Winn, who has had trouble gripping the bat since injuring his left thumb on Aug. 16 while sliding headfirst into second base, is back in the starting lineup for Friday’s series opener against the Chicago White Sox.

“We were very upfront about him having days where he doesn’t feel good and we’ll just take him out of the lineup,” Marmol said of Winn’s recovery. “I’d rather have him in (the lineup) and test it out rather than (being out). (Wednesday’s scratch) was just one of those where the thumb didn’t recover to the degree that he wanted. We tried to buy him an extra day with Thursday’s day off, throw him in there today and see how he feels. It’s going to be a pain tolerance thing.”

Marmol also offered medical updates on a few of the other injured Cardinals players on Friday before his team took on the White Sox. Here are those updates:

“JJ is doing everything outside today: Hitting, BP, running, ground balls, throwing and then we’ll gauge how he recovers from that to build the next couple of days for him. But today is an important day for him.

“How he recovers from this will determine how we set up what is next for him (in terms of a possible rehab assignment).”

“Better than I anticipated as far as making his way back and potentially being able to get back and into some games. I don’t know (more), but we’re still a week or so away from that being a possibility.”

Strzelecki, who picked up his first MLB win since 2023 on Aug. 20, is scheduled to test out his ailing forearm on Friday night for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. A healthy outing could allow him to possibly return to the Cardinals by the end of the season, Marmol said.

Pereira, who was claimed off waivers from the White Sox, impressed the Cardinals with a couple of stellar defensive plays and a long solo home run in mid-August. However, he has been out since taking a pitch off the back of his left hand on Aug. 21 in Philadelphia. Losing his defensive glove in center field cost the Cardinals that night as Alec Bohm doubled in two runs in the 10th inning on a drive to deep center field that was not fielded.

Pereira is making improvement, but he is still likely days away from a return, Marmol said. The presence of Joshua Baez could make Pereira’s return this season a long shot.