The home opener for the St. Louis Cardinals will come a day later than expected when the San Diego Padres visit Busch Stadium on Friday afternoon.
Weather concerns forced the postponement of Thursday’s home opener for the Cardinals. Friday had been scheduled as a day off just in case of a Thursday rainout.
The pitching matchups remain the same with Padres rookie left-hander Nick Margevicius (1-0, 1.80 ERA) facing Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty (0-0, 8.31 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series. All 16 living members of the Cardinals’ Hall of Fame will be in attendance for the Cardinals home opener, which is also the Padres’ first road game of the season.
“Pitching the home opener at Busch Stadium is sweet,” said the 23-year-old Flaherty. “It’s an honor. I recognize that.”
Making his home debut with the Cardinals on Friday will be first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who has already hit four homers this season, including a three-homer game on March 29 against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the second, three-homer game of Goldschmidt’s career and the 21st by a Cardinals player. It was also the first, three-homer game by a Cardinals hitter in March.
Speaking of milestones, St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina goes into the home opener needing only one hit to tie Curt Flood for ninth on the Cardinals’ all-time hits list at (1,853). With three hits, Molina will tie Ken Boyer for eighth on the hits list. On Saturday, Molina became the Cardinals’ all-time leader in games caught.
The Cardinals will get their first look at Margevicius, who made the Padres’ Opening Day roster with a strong spring. Going into his first major league start Saturday night against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park, the 6-foot-4, 222-pound Margevicius had made one career start above Single-A — in a Double-A Texas League playoff game last September.
One of two rookies and four left-handers in the Padres’ rotation, Margevicius shut out the Giants on two hits and no walks over the first five innings of his major league debut. He departed after giving up a hit to open the sixth — with that runner scoring.
Margevicius’ forte is his control. Last season, he issued only 17 walks against 146 strikeouts in 135 innings at the two highest levels of Single-A — averaging 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings with a 8.6-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. He averaged 1.05 walks per nine innings. Margevicius had a 4.50 ERA this spring with 12 strikeouts in 12 innings.
“He’s in the zone with movement,” Padres manager Andy Green said of Margevicius. “Every year there is a pitcher in spring training who surprises you and forces his way onto the roster. Nick was that pitcher in 2019.”
Margevicius was the Padres’ seventh-round pick in the 2017 draft. Flaherty, 23, was the Cardinals’ first-round pick (34th overall) in the 2014 draft.
The 6-4, 220-pound Flaherty has made two of his 34 career starts against the Padres, including the second of his career in September 2017 at the age of 21. He is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA and a .154 opponents’ batting average against the Padres. He has allowed two runs on six hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings against them.
Flaherty finished fifth in the voting for the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2018. He allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings on March 29 in Milwaukee, but received no-decision in Goldschmidt’s three-homer game.
