makes his return to the Cardinals rotation tomorrow afternoon. The lefty is scheduled for his first start of the season against the Astros. Matz had opened the season in the bullpen because the Cards had off days in each of the first three weeks. Theyre now going into their sixth game of a stretch of 13 consecutive game days, so theyll move to a six-man rotation. This has since Opening Day. St. Louis wanted to give another rotation opportunity after hed spent most of last season in long relief. , and were rotation locks, while has maintained his hold on the fourth starter role. Matz temporarily kicked into relief since it didnt make much sense to use a six-man Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jersey rotation when they had so many off days. Matz has found succe s over his first five appearances. He has to sed 11 2/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned). His six strikeouts and 9% swinging strike rate havent been overpowering, but hes throwing a lot of strikes and has gotten grounders at a solid 46.2% rate. Matzs most recent appearance came on Sunday. He threw 46 pitches in 2 1/3 innings against Philadelphia. Hell be working on three days rest and hasnt had a full rotation workload, so hell be on a tighter pitch limit tomorrow. writes that Matz will be capped around 65 pitches. The 33-year-old Matz is in the final season of his four-year free agent deal. His Cardinals tenure has mostly been marred by inconsistency and injury, though he did manage a 3.86 ERA in 105 innings two seasons ago. A back injury kept him to 44 1/3 frames over 12 appearances (seven starts) last year. He allowed 5.08 earned runs per nine with a below-average 17.4% strikeout rate. Matz is making $12MM and could net the Cardinals some salary relief and/or a modest return closer to the trade deadline if he has a solid first half. Rajon Rondo Jersey