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Cards' Lars Nootbaar, Tommy Edman exit early in loss to A's

St. Louis Cardinals outfielders Lars Nootbaar and Tommy Edman exited Wednesday's 8-0 loss to the visiting Oakland Athletics because of injuries.

Nootbaar left in the sixth inning with a lower abdomen contusion after fouling a ball off his groin. Edman departed two innings later with a right calf contusion.

Facing A's starter Paul Blackburn in the bottom of the fifth, Nootbaar was injured when his foul ball bounced up and sent him to the ground in pain. He remained in the game and eventually struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the sixth, Edman moved from shortstop to center field, Taylor Motter shifted from second base to shortstop, and Jose Fermin came in to play second and bat in Nootbaar's leadoff spot.

Edman was eventually replaced in center by Tyler O'Neill.

Nootbaar was 1-for-3 before exiting, while Edman went 0-for-2.

Nootbaar is hitting .283 with 12 home runs and 39 RBIs. Edman is batting .249 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.