Season over for Cardinals closer Rosenthal, who needs Tommy John surgery

If the St Louis Cardinals are going to overtake the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs in the National League (NL) Central, they will have to do it without their hard-throwing closer.

Trevor Rosenthal was placed on the 60-day disabled list in MLB on Wednesday and will need Tommy John surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm. 

The 27-year-old Rosenthal, an All-Star in 2015, is 3-4 on the year with a 3.40 ERA and 11 saves in 50 appearances. He had 76 strikeouts in just over 47 innings of work. 

Rosenthal was placed on the 10-day DL on August 16 when Cardinals manager Mike Matheny noticed his velocity was nowhere near his 98mph average in a 5-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Rosenthal had struck out 38 percent of the batters he faced this season and was a big reason the Cardinals surged after the All-Star break. 

The Missouri native took over for Seung-Hwan Oh as the team's closer, a move that seemed to solidify the St Louis bullpen.

With Rosenthal now done for the year, the Cardinals called up left-handed relief pitcher Ryan Sherriff from Triple-A Memphis.

Sherriff, who was is 5-1 with a 3.19 ERA in 53 innings for Memphis, gives the Cardinals three lefties in their bullpen. 

On Wednesday, Cardinals general manager Michael Girsch said he hopes someone "seizes" the closer role.