Pham is the man in center for Cards, for now
Tommy Pham entered Sunday's game with a hot bat since getting called up from Triple-A, prodding St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny to bat Pham second in the lineup Sunday for the first time this season.
Pham, who was hitting .353 in his week up, went hitless, but drew a walk and scored a run in the Cards' 10-3 much-needed win over the San Diego Padres. If he stays in the two-hole remains to be seen, but for the foreseeable future Pham will stay in center field while the Cardinals wait on their injured regulars to return.
Left fielder Matt Williams remains out with a quad strain and rookie sensation Randal Grichuk is on the DL until early September with an elbow strain.
"Tommy has been swinging it well, and in big situations for us, too," Cards manager Mike Matheny told reporters Sunday. "He's doing what we've hoped he would do -- give us a little boost to our offense. You watch him fight and really grind out [at-bats], and you see him really get the barrel to it and drive the ball to the opposite gap, you can tell he's doing something right mechanically in his swing."
The Cardinals have been pressing recently on offense and have seen their NL-Central lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates dwindle to 3.5 games.
Pham was sent down to Triple-A Memphis on July 19 and recalled on Aug. 18. It was difficult for Pham to go back down.
"When I got sent down, I was disappointed in myself," Pham told MLB.com. "It just motivated me to get my swing better so that the next time I got called up, I could contribute."
That's what Pham's done so far, and its what the Cards are going to need from him until reinforcements arrive.
(h/t MLB.com)
