The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals did not get their first meeting of 2026 underway on Friday night. Persistent, heavy rain in Cincinnati pushed the game to Saturday, turning the series opener into a split doubleheader and changing the rhythm of a day already loaded with roster news for the Reds.
The makeup game was set for 1:10 p.m. ET on May 23, with Chris Paddack starting for Cincinnati. The originally scheduled FOX matchup at 7:15 p.m. stayed in place, and Chase Petty was set to take that start after rejoining the Reds from Triple-A Louisville. The club said gates would open for Season Ticket Members at 11:40 a.m. and for the general public at 12:10 p.m.
Friday also brought Eugenio Suárez back from the injured list after he missed half of the Reds’ first 50 games with a strained left oblique. Suárez had last played on April 22 and was a late scratch before an April 24 game against the Detroit Tigers. His return gives Cincinnati another proven bat in a lineup that has spent much of the spring patching holes on the fly.
At the same time, the Reds lost another regular. Ke’Bryan Hayes was placed on the 10-day injured list retroactive to May 21 because of a lumbar bulging disc, a setback that takes away the steady glove at third base the club acquired as a trade deadline pickup in 2025. Francona said Hayes would head back to the Player Development Complex in Goodyear, Arizona, to keep healing and work on hitting.
Francona did not hide the caution around Hayes. “We’re gonna have to pick our spots a little early. We don’t want to run him into the ground,” he said. He also pointed to Hayes’ long-running back problems, adding that the spasming had reached the point where it was interfering. The goal now, Francona said, is to settle things down and let Hayes take a breath so the Reds can eventually get the version of him they hoped for.
The twin developments frame a roster that has been hard to pin down, even before the weather intervened. Suárez brings power and run production back into the mix after posting.231 with 21 hits and 11 RBIs in the early part of the season. Hayes, by contrast, has battled through a rough offensive stretch, hitting.142 in 44 games, more than 100 points below his career average of.247.
The pitching assignments add another layer to the day. Paddack was lined up for the 1:10 p.m. makeup game, while Petty was handed the night slot despite only one major league start and a 4.76 ERA before returning from Louisville. The Reds were trying to navigate a doubleheader, a return from the injured list and another injury absence all at once, the kind of shuffle that can alter a weekend before the first pitch is even thrown.
The Cardinals matchup was the first between the teams in 2026, but it arrived with the kind of disruption that forces a club to show its depth immediately. The Reds opened the day with one key bat back, one regular out and two games on the schedule. What they do with those innings may say more about where the season is heading than the rainout itself.
