Cardinals' Nolan Arenado: Aiming for Saturday return

Arenado (elbow) said after Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Marlins that he expects to return to the lineup Saturday versus the Giants in St. Louis, Paige Leckie of MLB.com reports.

Arenado was lifted for a pinch runner in the top of the eighth inning after he took a 94 mile-per-hour sinker to his right elbow in his fourth plate appearance of the afternoon. Before departing, Arenado went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored. Though Arenado has been diagnosed with a bruised right elbow after initial X-rays returned negative, he noted that the pitch hit him in a nerve in the elbow that caused his hand to cramp up. Based on his postgame comments, Arenado already seems to be ruling himself out for Thursday's series opener with the Giants at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., but he's counting on being ready to go coming out of Friday's off day.