Cardinals manager Mike Matheny announced Monday starting pitcher Carlos Martinez has beaten out Marco Gonzales for the final spot in the rotation. Gonzales will be in the rotation at Triple-A Memphis.
Martinez is 1-0 with a 3.94 ERA in five spring outings (four starts). He also struck out 16 batters and walked five in 16 innings.
Gonzales had a pretty solid spring, going 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA in five outings (four starts). Although, he did have some control issues, walking seven batters in 17 1/3 innings. He had nine strikeouts.
"Marco needs to stay on point because if anything happens between now and the beginning of our season, he's a guy that we have all the faith in the world and believe that he's going to be a good pitcher for a long time," Matheny said, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He had a disadvantage going into this from the beginning. And we knew that. For now, we believe that Carlos is our guy to start that fifth game for us."