The Opener: Doubleheader, Giants, Marlins

As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Doubleheader in St. Louis:

A game between the Cardinals and Braves was rained out on Tuesday, and the lost contest will be made up today in a split doubleheader. Game 1 is scheduled for 12:20pm local time while Game 2 is scheduled for 6:20pm, with fans who had tickets to Tuesday night’s postponed game eligible to use them during today’s evening contest, per MLB.com.

Game 1 will see Cardinals veteran Kyle Gibson (3.44 ERA) take on Atlanta righty Reynaldo Lopez, who has dominated to a 1.57 ERA and 25.9% strikeout rate across 13 starts this year. As noted by Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Game 2 will see the Braves promote right-hander Bryce Elder from the minor leagues to face Cardinals righty Andre Pallante. Elder enjoyed success with the club in the rotation last year but has struggled across five starts in the big leagues this season with a 6.36 ERA and 5.39 FIP in 23 2/3 innings of work. Pallante has also had his fair share of struggles, as the 25-year-old sports a 5.23 ERA in 14 games split between the rotation and bullpen this year, including a 4.76 ERA through five starts.

2. Giants promoting pitching prospect:

Giants prospect  Hayden Birdsong will make his big league debut this evening in Game 3 of the club’s four-game set against the Cubs. Birdsong, a 22-year-old righty, was the club’s sixth-round pick in 2022 and has subsequently emerged as one of the better prospects in their farm system. He dominated Double-A with a 2.05 ERA and a 30.7% strikeout rate in 48 1/3 innings. The righty’s results haven’t been quite as impressive in two starts since being promoted to the Triple-A level, but he’ll now depart the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League for the majors. Birdsong is not yet on the 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be necessary before the game starts at 6:45pm local time.

3. Marlins hurler to debut:

The Giants aren’t the only club calling up a rookie pitcher for a start that will serve as a big league debut today. The Marlins are set to select the contract of righty Valente Bellozo. The 24-year-old has not typically been regarded as a high-end prospect throughout his career and has struggled somewhat in 11 appearances split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels this season with a 5.02 ERA across 52 frames. While he’s struck out 25.4% of batters faced and walked just 6.7%, Bellozo has had a problem with the long ball. In his 11 appearances he’s allowed a whopping ten homers (1.73 HR/9). He’ll square off with Royals righty Alec Marsh (4.40 ERA) amid a massive slate of rotation injury for the Marlins.