Reliever Scott Linebrink wasn’t given any favors for his Cardinals debut Tuesday, entering with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning.
Hoping to make the club as a right-handed reliever, Linebrink served up a three-run triple into the gap to Andres Torres before getting out of the inning with a ground ball. He returned for the fifth inning and retired the side in order on three ground balls.
"Kind of two sides to that outing," Linebrink said. "You want to come in and make a better pitch, especially with bases loaded like that, but when it’s your first hitter, you really are just worried about throwing strikes too.
"I was happy with keeping the ball down today, of course giving up that one hit was in the wrong spot, but I felt like going back out there and rebounding in the second inning was a positive."
Linebrink retired four of the five hitters he faced.
