Broxton declined to comment.

The Cardinals acquired the former closer from Milwaukee 13 months ago as one of a series of moves to fortify the bullpen with experienced, name pitchers. In December, general manager John Mozeliak re-signed Broxton, 32, to a two-year, $7.5 million deal and then landed Seung Hwan Oh from Korea to use both as the setup men for closer Rosenthal. Mozeliak’s idea was to shorten games and create depth with Kevin Siegrist, Broxton and Oh to funnel leads to Rosenthal in the ninth. Rosenthal faltered and is on the disabled list with a shoulder issue, and Oh has become the Cardinals’ answer at closer.

Matt Bowman and Siegrist have increasingly been used as setup men, and in the past week Matheny said fatigue has meant avoiding both at times.

They’ve looked to Broxton to fill the breach.

“Sometimes you pitch yourself into roles,” pitching coach Derek Lilliquist said. “In a time of need, we know he’s going to be the best available guy at times for what we need. He can handle that. Bring him in. Now we need to get strikes.”