"On the same day Lance Berkman returned to the lineup with a right wrist he hopes will no longer be persistently sore, the Cardinals couldn't complete a full inning without losing another outfielder to injury.

Allen Craig battered his right knee while chasing a fly ball into foul territory at Minute Maid Park during the first inning of Tuesday's game against Houston. Tracking a pop-up from Clint Barmes, Craig crashed into a metal fence that separates the field of play from the seats down the right-field line. Craig did not make the catch and crumpled to the ground.

He had to be helped from the field, and the Cardinals initially diagnosed the right fielder with a contusion, or deep bruise, to his right knee. In addition to the bruise, Craig said he needed stitches to close a deep gash in the knee, a location that will make him unavailable for a few days as it heals.

Berkman started in left field three days after receiving a cortisone injection into his right wrist. The switch-hitter sprained the wrist while making a diving catch almost three weeks ago, and the pain had subsided but not disappeared. Berkman said the purpose of the cortisone was to douse the inflammation and make sure the injury didn't turn from nagging to chronic.

"That was the idea," Berkman said. "It kind of had (hit a) plateau to where it was feeling good enough to play, but it wasn't feeling great. We're hoping that this cortisone shot would get it over the hump where it can calm down completely and I won't have to worry about it."

Berkman said the soreness had not been "restrictive" in recent weeks, though he did have to shake loose from an 0-for-13 skid with three hits, including a homer, in two games this past weekend against the Cubs.

The immediate at-bats weren't of a concern, Berkman explained. Future and long-term swings were.

"I didn't feel like I was being limited by the soreness," he said. "It just was sore. I didn't want to get to the point where it was so sore that I changed the way I swung and my mechanics to compensate for it. That's why I tried to knock it out with that cortisone.""