ST. LOUIS – Due to inclement weather in the St. Louis area, Wednesday's game between the Cardinals and Royals at Busch Stadium has been postponed.
The two teams will play a split doubleheader on Thursday, with Game 1 starting at 12:45 p.m. CT and Game 2 following at 6:45 CT.
Incredibly, it will be the fifth doubleheader of the young season for the Cardinals, who have been haunted by heavy rains at several stops. The Cards played doubleheaders in Boston, Cincinnati and Philadelphia and they swept the Mets in a doubleheader at Busch Stadium on May 4. The Cardinals have gone 5-3 in those eight doubleheader games, sweeping the Reds and Mets, splitting with the Phillies and dropping both to the Red Sox.
“At this point, you just put your head down and play ball,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said when asked if he was worried about the cumulative effect of his team playing so many doubleheaders. “We’re not going to have many days off in June, so you just try to enjoy the grind. I don’t want to put too much into it or give in to it. If we’ve got to play two, we play two.”
The Royals will have rookie lefty Noah Cameron -- the club's No. 5 prospect who was originally supposed to start Wednesday’s game -- start Game 1 opposite Cardinals veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas, who hasn’t lost in his last eight starts. Cameron brings a 1.05 ERA into his fifth big league start.
Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore, who struggled through his worst outing of the season in Texas on Friday, will start Game 2, while Royals lefty Cole Ragans is set to come off the injured list (left groin strain) on Thursday night to start Game 2.
It’ll be Ragans’ first start since May 16, when he allowed four runs to these Cardinals in five innings at Kauffman Stadium. Ragans made one rehab start this past weekend with Double-A Northwest Arkansas and allowed five runs (four earned in 3 2/3 innings).
“Everything felt really good in the rehab outing,” Ragans said Wednesday. “Velo was in a good spot, offspeed was where I wanted it to be. The results weren’t ideal, but it happens. You try not to look too much into that because the approach is a little bit different. But everything felt right where I think it should be. And it was normal soreness the day after, nothing in the groin, so that’s a good sign.”
Both teams will be allowed to call up a 27th man to the roster for the doubleheader.
Gates for Game 1 will open at 11:15 a.m., and gates for Game 2 will open at 5:15 p.m.
Tickets for Wednesday's postponed game will be valid for Game 1 on Thursday. Additionally, fans with paid tickets for Wednesday's postponed game will be sent a ticket voucher electronically next week for a future 2025 Monday-Thursday Cardinals home game.
Additional Cardinals ticket policy details are available online at cardinals.com/rain.