ST. LOUIS -- The youth movement rolls on for Cardinals pitching.
Right-hander Michael Wacha, 22, will be called up to start Saturday against the Cubs, manager Mike Matheny said Thursday afternoon. Wacha's start will come two days after the club's other top pitching prospect, 21-year-old Carlos Martinez, goes against the Dodgers in the finale of a four-game series.
Calling up Wacha will allow Adam Wainwright, who was on turn for Saturday, to start Tuesday in a showdown series against the first-place Pirates on three days' extra rest. Wainwright has not looked his sharpest in his past three outings, all of which have come in a 21-games-in-20-days stretch for the club.
"We have an off day coming (Monday)," Matheny said. "That's an opportunity to throw Michael in there and get all our guys a little more rest."
Matheny did not say who would follow Wainwright next week. "We've drawn up quite a few scenarios," he said, adding the team doesn't plan to announce its plans until the weekend.
The skipper did not rule out Shelby Miller from starting one of the final two games against the Pirates next week. In a major stroke of good fortune, Miller appears to have escaped serious injury from the line drive that drilled his right elbow on the second pitch of Wednesday night's game. Miller played catch Thursday and afterward said the elbow felt fine. "A lot better," he said.
Lance Lynn will start as scheduled Friday night against the Cubs, and Joe Kelly will go Sunday afternoon on five days' rest.
The club has no shortage of options for the Pirates after Wainwright. Lynn would be on regular rest for a Wednesday start, or Miller could be ready. If the club wants to get all of its starters some extra rest, Miller could start Wednesday and Lynn could take the series finale Thursday afternoon.
Jake Westbrook, who threw 108 pitches in relief of Miller on Wednesday night, also could come back against the Pirates. He has been dealing with elbow issues most of the season, and considering he was working on short rest against the Dodgers, he likely will be rested until late next week.
Even the rookies Martinez and Wacha could be up for more than one start, though that will depend largely on how they handle their first opportunities.
"I want them to come up and pitch and not think about the long term," Matheny said. "A great opportunity for Michael to jump in and give us a quality start. Get him prepared for one start and we'll handle things from there."
Wacha made three starts in an earlier call-up and pitched very well in two of them. Martinez made 10 relief appearances in his previous two call-ups but will be making his first big league start against the Dodgers.
Lefty reliever Sam Freeman was called up along with Martinez on Thursday when the Cardinals sent down rookie reliever Keith Butler and outfielder Brock Peterson. Freeman said Martinez and he learned of their promotion about 10 p.m. Wednesday in Reno, where the Redbirds will open a series Thursday night. He said their Thursday morning flight (no charter, he said) arrived in St. Louis around 1:30 p.m.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @stanmcneal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
