Cardinals' Flaherty exits with stiff shoulder in 3rd start since return

St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty had an abbreviated start Sunday, leaving after two innings against the Chicago Cubs with what the team first announced as right shoulder stiffness.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said postgame that the team removed him for precautionary reasons after he experienced a "dead arm," according to Katie Woo of The Athletic.

"He came in after that second inning, said nothing was hurting, had a dead arm, nothing was coming out the way he wanted it to," Marmol said. "A little stiff, but nothing in the same spot we've been working on. We weren't going to risk it."

Flaherty was making his third start of the year, having returned from the 60-day injured list earlier this month after experiencing shoulder discomfort during spring training.

The 26-year-old also missed time last year due to a shoulder strain.

Flaherty threw 49 pitches over the two frames, allowing one hit while issuing one walk and striking out a pair.

Right-hander Nick Wittgren took over for the start of the third inning with the Cardinals leading 2-0.

Flaherty managed to work three innings in each of his other two starts. He owns a 5.63 ERA and 6.99 FIP in eight innings pitched this season.