Cardinals To Face Ex-Twins 1st-Round Pick In MLB Debut With Reds Wednesday Night

The St. Louis Cardinals hope to win back-to-back games Wednesday against the National League Central rival Cincinnati Reds after Tuesday's matchup was postponed due to inclement weather.

After defeating the Milwaukee Brewers two games to one in their previous series, the Cardinals lost 3-1 to the Reds on Monday night. However, St. Louis has Wednesday's double-header and Thursday's finale in Cincinnati to shrink its deficit in the NL Central.

To win both games against the Reds on Wednesday, the Cardinals must defeat former Kansas City Royals hurler Brady Singer and then ruin a former first-round draft pick's Major League Baseball debut.

"Right-hander Chase Petty, one of the Cincinnati Reds’ top prospects, is scheduled to make his big-league debut Wednesday in the second game of the team’s doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals, according to multiple team sources," The Athletic's C. Trent Rosecrans reported late Tuesday night. "Tuesday’s game between the Reds and Cardinals was rained out and rescheduled for a day-night doubleheader on Wednesday. Tuesday’s scheduled starter for the Reds, right-hander Brady Singer, will start the 12:40 p.m. game, and Petty is scheduled to start Game 2, serving as the 27th man allotted by Major League Baseball."

Petty was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the first round of the 2021 draft but was quickly traded to the Reds on Mar. 13, 2022 in exchange for Cardinals ace Sonny Gray and RHP Francis Peguero.

The 22-year-old has posted a 12-15 record with a 3.45 ERA, 325-to-115 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .241 batting average against and a 1.25 WHIP throughout his five-year career, during which he pitched in the Twins and Reds farm systems.

The New Jersey native regularly clocked 100 MPH on the radar gun during high school, prompting the Twins to draft him before entering college.

Now the Reds' No. 6 top prospect, Petty is ready to make his highly anticipated big-league debut after logging a 0-2 record with a 3.52 ERA, 27-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .233 batting average against and a 1.30 WHIP in 23 innings pitched across five starts for Triple-A Louisville this season.

St. Louis is 2-12 on the road this season, holding the second-worst away record behind the NL West Colorado Rockies, who are 1-14 when not playing at Coors Field in 2025. Although Petty is debuting and could be nervous, the Cardinals have their work cut out against the young flamethrower.

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