ST. LOUIS — As the St. Louis Cardinals took stock of their situation a day after the firing of Manager Mike Matheny, some players said they bear some responsibility for Matheny’s sudden dismissal.
Matheny, whose son Tate plays for the Portland Sea Dogs, was fired Saturday night after an 8-2 loss to the last-place Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals entered Sunday’s game one game over .500 and are in danger of missing the playoffs for a third straight season for the first time since 1999.
“We all feel bad for Mike and ultimately it comes down on us,” veteran infielder Jedd Gyorko said Sunday. “We’re the guys that go out there, and play and perform. I feel like we haven’t done that good enough.”
Bench coach Mike Shildt will serve as interim manager.
“As a player it’s like, ‘What could I have done better to keep this from happening?’ ” reliever Greg Holland said. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily fair. It’s just the way the world works.”
BREWERS: Milwaukee placed infielder Jonathan Villar on the 10-day disabled list with a right thumb strain.
Villar injured his thumb sliding into third base in Milwaukee’s 6-3 loss in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday against the Pirates.
There’s no time frame for his return. Villar hit .261 with six home runs and 22 RBI over 87 games.
PIRATES: Pittsburgh demoted outfielder Austin Meadows to Triple-A Indianapolis and recalled right-handed reliever Tanner Anderson.
Meadows, 23, was the team’s first-round pick in the 2013 draft. He hit .298 in 48 games with Pittsburgh but lost playing time to Corey Dickerson and Gregory Polanco. In July, Meadows hit .233 as his playing opportunities declined.
“I’m really excited about what he did, especially that first week,” General Manager Neal Huntington said. “The last month hasn’t been as productive and it’s tough to ask a young player to not play. It’s in his best interests and our best interests to let him grow and develop.”
CUBS: Chicago placed outfielder Albert Almora Jr. on the family medical emergency list and recalled infielder David Bote from Triple-A Iowa.
Bote returns to the majors for his fourth stint this season. He hit .300 with one homer and nine RBI in his first 19 games with the Cubs.
Almora is hitting .319, third in the NL, with four homers and 28 RBI.
FUTURES GAME: New York Mets prospect Peter Alonso hit a two-run homer that reminded Manager Torii Hunter of Mark McGwire as the United States beat the World 10-6 in a longball-filled game at Washington.
Alonso’s seventh-inning home run came off Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Adonis Medina, whose wild pitch on a strikeout allowed the go-ahead run to score. Medina is one of the prospects whose name has been mentioned in trade talks involving Baltimore shortstop Manny Machado.
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