Cardinals' Jordan Hicks: Will work in low-leverage outings

Cardinals manager Oli Marmol told reporters before Sunday's game against the Pirates that Hicks will work in low-leverage situations going forward, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

"We need to figure out a way for [Hicks] to be more effective & usable," Marmol said. "We've got to have a good enough plan to do that, where he's comfortable with it & we feel good about it." Hicks struggled again in a loss to the Pirates on Sunday while allowing three runs -- two earned -- and getting just one out in the process. The hard-throwing reliever now has a 12.71 ERA, 3.35 WHIP and 6:8 K:BB across 5.2 innings. The Cardinals are unable to send Hicks down to Triple-A because of his service time, so he'll have to work through his struggles while a member of the big-league club.