ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals have activated reliever Jason Motte from the 15-day disabled list from a lower back strain, and added four others to put their active roster at 31 players.
The Cardinals also recalled catcher Tony Cruz and left-handers Marco Gonzales, Nick Greenwood and Tyler Lyons. One will start in place of struggling Justin Masterson this week.
Lyons and Gonzales were standouts in a doubleheader against the Cubs on Saturday. Lyons had a career-high eight strikeouts, the most by a Cardinals reliever since 1978, in 4 2/3 innings of relief in Game 1. Gonzales worked six strong innings in his first career victory in Game 2.
Motte has been on the DL since Aug. 2. He was the closer before reconstructive elbow surgery sidelined him all last season. He is 0-0 with a 4.91 ERA in 24 games this season.
