Cardinals Activate Dobbins, Option Fernandez

0:00It's April 30th. MLB News. Today starts now. AI-powered and game-ready. I'm Cory with the story. Cardinals fans heads up for Thursday afternoons matchup against Paul Schienz and the Pirates. The team just activated pitcher Hunter Dobbins from the 15-day injured list, giving him his big league debut with St. Louis after a rehab stint. To make room, they optioned reliever Ryan Fernandez back to AAA, a Memphis. Dobbins got called up earlier than expected. Last year with the Boston Red Sox, his season ended early from a torn ACL, but he's been building back strong in the minors. Fernandez has been sharp this year, posting a 1.59 ERA over 5 and 2-thirds innings in four outings with nine strikeouts against. Just two walks. He had two scoreless appearances lately, including a clean two innings versus the Pirates last week. Still, the cards pulled the trigger, even though their bullpen's been shaky overall. Other relievers are struggling hard. Matt

1:00Spanson sits at a 10.34 ERA in 14 games, just in brule at 5.87 over a league-high 16 appearances and, Ryan Stenek at 9.00, Fernandez was one of the few bright spots, so this move raises eyebrows. For now, St. Louis rolls with a 6-man rotation during this long stretch of games, but they'll reassess the pin soon. Might need to add arms or shift, a starter to relief to shore things up before it bites them.