JUPITER, Fla. • Dakota Hudson all but seized the last available spot in the Cardinals’ season-opening rotation with a dominant, five-inning performance against the Bryce Harper-less Philadelphia Phillies on Monday in a 4-1 Cardinals victory before a sellout house of 7,666 at Roger Dean Stadium.
While Harper stayed back in Clearwater, Fla, to tend to an ankle bruise suffered when he was hit by a pitch last week, the Phillies were held by Hudson to four hits, a couple of which could have been caught by Cardinals defenders.
Hudson struck out eight batters, two of those with a man at third and under two outs as he threw 79 pitches.