ST. LOUIS -- Michael Wacha's comeback from a shoulder injury hit a bump Friday afternoon when the Cardinals said he will not make his scheduled start on Sunday afternoon.
Rookie left-hander Marco Gonzales will start in his place against the Rockies.
"We're going to give him a little rest," Matheny said about Wacha. "To us (he) doesn't look quite right. We gave ourselves the freedom (in his comeback) to throw him in there and see how it looks. If we like how it looks, we keep pushing. If we don't, we stop. Right now, we didn't like how it was coming together."
Matheny said Wacha pitched a typical bullpen session on Thursday and his fastball location still wasn't quite right. Though Wacha pitched better in his first start than his second, Matheny said fastball command was an issue in both outings.
"He's like the rest of these guys, he's all about locating the fastball" Matheny said. "Both times it was something that was a struggle. He's trying to get a good feel out there. Sometimes that's hard to do throwing him out there every fifth day. Try to continue to get it right, we'll adjust from there."
Matheny added that Wacha "wasn't necessarily excited about how the ball was coming out of his hand."
"So what do you do," the manager added. "We stick to the original plan. We just stop."
Matheny did not rule out Wacha making another start or that he could pitch out of the bullpen. "We haven't got that far yet," Matheny said.
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
