Chris Carpenter will miss his scheduled start Friday for the
St. Louis Cardinals after an MRI exam showed a muscle strain in the back of his pitching shoulder.
Carpenter was examined Tuesday in St. Louis and will rejoin his teammates in Florida, where he will receive treatment from the team's medical staff.
The 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner, Carpenter was injured in the sixth inning of Sunday's 6-2 loss at the
Chicago Cubs. He was making his third start since Opening Day last year. The right-hander underwent elbow ligament replacement surgery in July 2007.
St. Louis began exploring its options even before Carpenter's test results were in.
Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said Carpenter's replacement would come out of the bullpen, according to multiple media reports. Duncan mentioned
Brad Thompson and
Jaime Garcia as options. Both pitchers have starting experience and neither pitched in Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the
Florida Marlins.
Thompson has made 19 appearances this season, three of which were starts, and is 4-2 with a 4.34 ERA. Garcia, meanwhile, has made six appearance with one start. He is 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA.