Cardinals' Masyn Winn Still Banged Up After HBP vs. Red Sox

The St. Louis Cardinals entered Sunday's series finale with the Boston Red Sox with an 8-6 record, sitting just a game back of first place in the National League Central. On Friday night, they dealt with a little bit of an injury scare with star shortstop Masyn Winn, who was hit in the calf by a pitch from Red Sox left-hander Connelly Early.

Winn left the game and was replaced by Thomas Saggese, who also started in Saturday night's 7-1 loss to Boston. St. Louis is hoping to avoid a series loss to the Red Sox.

On Sunday morning, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News Democrat revealed the lineup for the series finale. Once again, Winn is not present.

Cardinals' Masyn Winn out for series finale

In Winn's place, Saggese is starting at shortstop and batting eighth. Winn has dealt with some issues early on this season.

He was off to a slow start but managed to pick up a walk-off hit against the New York Mets on April 1. However, he was involved in a car accident on Interstate 64 after that game, and though he returned to the lineup for their next game against the Detroit Tigers, he began to deal with a hip issue, which fortunately for the Cardinals, appears to be behind him.

But the calf tightened up in the cool weather after Winn was hit by the pitch, so he'll likely be down for at least another day.

The Cardinals have performed much better than expected thus far. After the trades of Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras, they were expected to fall to last place in the NL Central. That still could happen, but their young core has carried them through the first 14 games of the season and has them right in the mix for a playoff spot.

However, any more time without Winn would be a big blow to this young team that needs its Gold Glove shortstop in the lineup, so it will be interesting to see if he is potentially available to pinch hit or is good to go for their upcoming series against the Cleveland Guardians.

As long as he avoids the injured list, the Cardinals should be okay as they prepare to finish their series with the Red Sox and get back into the win column.

Winn missed the last month of 2025 due to a torn meniscus.