Thanks to a rainout back on May 24th, this Monday will feature a pair of games between the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals as this previously scheduled four-game series now effectively becomes one of the rare five-game variety.
The Reds are reeling, once again, having dropped back to back games against the Miami Marlins over the weekend when their threadbare bullpen completely collapsed. The state of their pitching staff is on full display to start the first game Monday, as newly promoted
Kent Emanuel will get the start for them in Game 1.
Emanuel pitched exactly once for AAA Louisville after the Reds found him pitching down in Indy ball. He hasn’t appeared in a big league game since 2024, and at 34 years of age he’s never started a big league game ever before. In theory, this will be a bullpen game, and the Reds also promoted Zach McCambley to serve as the 27th man for today’s twin-bill.
Cincinnati is also starting (and batting back to back) Noelvi Marte and Ke’Bryan Hayes in Game 1, the two having combined for -2.2 fWAR so far this season. Their individual marks (-1.3 for Noelvi, -0.9 for Ke’Bryan) both rank among the 10 worst (with ties) out of the 472 players who have logged at least 60 PA this year, and bench bat TJ Friedl (also -0.9) is among those, too.
First pitch in the first of two games is set for 1:40 PM ET, with a 6:40 PM ET start time scheduled for Game 2, with Rhett Lowder slated to start the latter.
Here’s how the Reds will line up to begin the first of two:
