The St. Louis Cardinals returned to the field for light workouts Wednesday, nearly a week after an outbreak of COVID-19 forced the club and its staff members to quarantine in Milwaukee and set the rest of their season into upheaval.

Cardinals manager Mike Shildt called it “a breath of fresh air” after five days spent in The Pfister Hotel, where players tried to keep their arms limber by throwing baseballs into mattresses and pillows. The Cardinals had returned 13 positive tests in their traveling party, seven of those players, forcing them to suspend their season.

They were finally cleared to travel back to St. Louis late Tuesday when they returned negative tests for the second straight day. Their flight left Wednesday morning and that gave them the afternoon and Thursday to get in workouts.

Among the players that confirmed they tested positive for COVID-19 were a pair of All-Stars in catcher Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong. All-Star right-hander Carlos Martinez also went on the injured list, though no reason was given, which means the Cardinals will be down seven players when they take on their bitter NL Central rivals.

To help fill the vacancies, which become two fewer with rosters reduced from 30 players to 28 on Thursday, the Cardinals recalled pitchers Alex Reyes and Genesis Cabrera from their alternate training site in Springfield, Missouri. They also purchased the contracts of infielder Max Schrock and pitcher Roel Ramirez, neither of whom has appeared in a big-league game, while placing infielder Rangel Ravelo on the injured list and adding catcher Jose Godoy to the taxi squad.

The Cardinals will resume their season against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night at Busch Stadium.