Cardinals righthander Daniel Ponce de Leon is something of a placeholder for Kwang Hyun Kim and made his final start of spring training Thursday night against the Houston Astros.
Ponce de Leon had to be lifted in the first inning when his pitch count got to 25 and he had recorded only two outs. Two runs scored in that frame, but Ponce de Leon returned to throw three scoreless innings before the Astros tacked on a run in the fifth. He allowed only three runs in the Cardinals’ 3-0 loss but the six walks he issued in 4 1/3 innings was the most striking statistic.