Rosenthal picks up first save of season

With Seung-Hwan Oh unavailable, the Cardinals turned to Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth and Rosenthal posted his first save since June 21, 2016, against the Chicago Cubs.

Rosenthal recorded the first out, then allowed a single to John Jaso. He ended the game with strikeouts of Jordy Mercer and Jose Osuna.

“I was able to be able to help out in that situation,” said Rosenthal, who threw five pitches of at least 100 mph, including a 101.1-mph delivery that was his fastest of the season. “I’m feeling healthy, feeling strong right now. I just continue to work on being effective, trying to work ahead in counts. Velocity, there’s not much to build on. I’m happy with that.”

Rosenthal has seven strikeouts in four games and 3 1/3 innings since returning from a strained right lat.

“It’s huge,” Matheny said. “Being able to not have to maybe push Oh on days we have in the past when Trevor’s throwing like he is ...”

This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Rosenthal picks up first save of season."