ST. LOUIS -- Nine pitches was all Trevor Rosenthal needed on Tuesday to feel confident that he's ready to transition out of the rehab phase and back into a relief role for the Cardinals.
Throwing his second batting-practice session in four days, Rosenthal faced three hitters. He struck out two (Alberto Rosario and Tommy Pham) and generated a lazy fly ball off the bat of Brayan Pena. It completed a 25-minute exercise that began with Rosenthal playing flat-ground catch and throwing off the mound in the bullpen.
"There were a few feel things I wanted to be able to repeat, some mechanical things, and I went into it with the idea that if I could feel confident with those, I would save the bullets," Rosenthal said of choosing to cut off the session when he did.