Cardinals manager Mike Matheny admitted after Tuesday’s 6-4 win over the Diamondbacks that there was a “high level of concern” regarding first baseman Matt Adams, who exited Tuesday’s game with what was initially described as simply a right quad strain after he pulled up rounding first base and grabbed his quad as he hobbled into second for a one-out double in the fifth. On Wednesday morning, Adams was placed on the 15-day disabled list and catcher Ed Easley was recalled from AAA Memphis for what’s likely to just be a one or two game stint as outfielder Jon Jay finishes his rehab assignment.

GM John Mozeliak provided some clarity on the injury Wednesday afternoon, telling reporters, including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that Adams was likely looking at an extended absence. Then, just after the start of the Cardinals’ series finale against Arizona on Wednesday, the club announced that Adams is expected to miss 3-4 months due to his right quad strain. At the time, is was unclear whether or not Adams would require surgery, as Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com reported that the team was still determining whether it would be necessary and Mozeliak didn’t address the topic when making the announcement on the Cardinals radio broadcast.

Mozeliak did discuss the injury a bit with the radio voice of the Cardinals, Mike Shannon (via KMOX’s Benjamin Boyd): “We anticipated this being a DL, but now we have to look at how we look at this club long-term,” Mozeliak said.

However, following the Cardinals’ dramatic 4-3 walkoff win over the D’Backs, the 26-year-old slugger told reporters, including KMOV’s J.J. Bailey, that he will indeed have surgery (on Friday) after MRI results on his right quad came back worse than expected.

Here’s what Adams told reporters, via Brian Stull of St. Louis Baseball Weekly:

Went in there and got the MRI and the results came back worse than we expected. I’m scheduled for surgery Friday. Dr. King’s going to do it and the timetable is 3-4 months. So hopefully, fingers crossed, if things go well maybe I’ll be able to get back  the end of the season.

Adams also told Stull that he met with doctors as well as the team training staff Wednesday at Busch Stadium after receiving the results of his MRI to make the decision to go ahead and proceed with the surgery. Adams is dealing with a torn tendon “at the outer-top of his right quadriceps,” near the top of his leg.

With Adams down for the summer months, the Cardinals will turn to offseason signee Mark Reynolds at first base for at least the foreseeable future. Reynolds, who’s seen a decent amount of action this season thus far filling in at all four corner positions as well as serving as a key bat off the bench when not starting, entered the year as one of only six players with at least 20 home runs in each of the last seven seasons. The 31-year-old has been a regular for most of his big-league career, so the increase in playing time will not serve as a major change for the veteran slugger.

More to come.

Feature image used under Creative Commons from Keith Allison. No changes made. Creative Commons License.