Regardless of what happens when the Cincinnati Reds host the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon, it will be hard to top the heartwarming debut of rookie Bryan Torres.

The National League Central rivals played for the first time this season on Saturday and split a doubleheader. St. Louis won the first game 8-1, and Cincinnati prevailed 7-6 in 11 innings in the nightcap.

The Cardinals called up Torres, 28, from the minors on Friday to make his long-awaited major league debut following an injury to fellow outfielder Nathan Church (left-shoulder strain).

Torres, signed by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015, spent five-plus seasons in the minor leagues in the United States — plus played in games in many locations in the Dominican Summer League, Puerto Rican Winter League and the independent leagues — waiting for his chance. He was signed as a minor league free agent by St. Louis in 2023 and was leading the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds with a .336 batting average when he was called up.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Torres walked in his first plate appearance, singled in the fourth inning and hit a two-run homer in the ninth. He went 2-for-4 and made a nice catch in left field. In the nightcap he was 1-for-4 with a walk.

“Eleven years to get to here,” Torres said. “I’m not a homer guy. Today, my debut, it just happened. I’ve been learning to manage the pressure. When the heart is going too fast, you have to slow things down. I felt a little pounding in my chest today.”

Of Torres’ day, St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said: “That was awesome. That guy’s waited a long time to get his shot. You talk about being resilient and, even before the game started, you could tell he was locked in and just having a good time. That was fun.”

The other offensive star for St. Louis on Saturday was right fielder Jordan Walker, who was 4-for-9 with two homers, three runs and seven RBIs.

For Cincinnati, Elly De La Cruz snapped a 1-for-17 streak when he crushed a three-run homer in the second game, and Nathaniel Lowe hit a pair of home runs for the day.

The pitching matchup for the series finale will pit Cincinnati right-hander Brady Singer (2-4, 6.26 ERA) against St. Louis southpaw Matthew Liberatore (2-2, 4.70).

Singer did not pitch well in his most recent outing, a 10-3 loss at Cleveland on May 17. He pitched four innings and allowed five runs on seven hits — including three home runs — and one walk, striking out six. He had worked just 3 2/3 innings in his previous start — a 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals on May 12 — after being struck on the right ankle by a line drive in the second inning, but he didn’t use the injury as an excuse.

“I was able to get to strikes. That’s what I wanted to do,” Singer said. “But I wasn’t able to put them away. The ankle is fine. I didn’t feel it when I was pitching.”

Reds manager Terry Francona said it wasn’t an easy outing for Singer.

“He had to work for everything, and when he missed, he paid the price,” Francona said.

Singer has made five career starts against St. Louis, going 2-3 with a 3.04 ERA.

Liberatore was roughed up by the Pittsburgh Pirates in his most recent start on Tuesday, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. He tied a career high with nine strikeouts. The Cardinals won 9-6 in 10 innings, but Liberatore didn’t figure into the decision.

Liberatore has made 10 career appearances against the Reds, three of them starts, going 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA.

–Field Level Media

After Stephen Kolek gave the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen a day off, Seth Lugo will try to help claim a series win against the visiting Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.

Kolek delivered a complete-game, four-hit shutout in the Royals’ 5-0 victory on Saturday. He walked one, struck out two and needed 108 pitches to notch Kansas City’s first complete-game shutout since Sept. 13, 2020.

As the Royals’ scheduled starter on Sunday, Lugo (1-4, 3.68 ERA), will have a tough act to follow.

In his last start, Lugo gave up two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts over six innings in a 3-1 home defeat to the Boston Red Sox on Monday. He has four career appearances (three starts) against the Mariners, going 1-1 with a 5.00 ERA.

On Saturday, Royals manager Matt Quatraro praised the ground balls Kolek induced, something he wants as part of the pitching staff’s game plan.

“I kept an unofficial tally; I think (he threw) 10 or 11 ground balls,” Quatraro said of Kolek. “That’s one thing we want: Attack, keep them on their heels and induce soft contact.”

Bobby Witt Jr. helped spark the offense Saturday with two hits, two runs and a stolen base. His first hit was an infield single, and he later scored on a sacrifice fly to shallow left field.

“He’s got game-changing speed; that’s why this game is unfair,” Quatraro said. “He can maximize the contact he makes.”

For Witt, who is batting .298 with seven home runs, 23 RBIs and 16 stolen bases this season, the approach starts with being ready for his preferred pitches.

“I want to attack in my zones,” he said. “I want to be ready for the fastball at all times and go from there.”

Witt said the Royals want aggressiveness on the basepaths to be part of their identity.

“That’s who we are,” he said. “We want to keep attacking and try to get that extra 90 (feet).”

The Royals on Sunday will face right-hander Bryan Woo (4-2, 3.51 ERA), who most recently led the Mariners to a 6-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday.

The 26-year-old limited Chicago to three hits and two walks while striking out eight over six shutout innings. He said he’s better when sticking to the basics.

Monday marked Woo’s third consecutive quality start, third win in a row and third straight outing with eight or more strikeouts.

“The simpler I am, the simpler my thought process is, the better I am,” Woo said.

Woo is 1-0 with a 5.56 ERA in two career starts against the Royals. On May 1, he gave up six runs on seven hits and struck out two in a 7-6 home loss to Kansas City in which he didn’t factor into the decision.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson said his club needs to flush Saturday’s loss quickly. Luke Raley collected three of Seattle’s four hits and leads the team with 10 homers and 27 RBIs this season.

“It was a tough afternoon,” Wilson said, “… but we need to come back tomorrow and be ready to go and win the series.”

–Field Level Media

The reeling New York Mets will look to avoid being swept on Sunday afternoon when they visit the Miami Marlins in the finale of a three-game series between the National League East foes.

Christian Scott (0-0, 4.12 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against fellow right-hander Tyler Phillips (0-0, 1.20), who will make his first start of the season for Miami.

The Marlins locked up the series win on Saturday when Max Meyer allowed only one hit over seven scoreless innings and improved to 5-0 as Miami beat the Mets 4-1.

The loss was the fourth in five games for the Mets, who will head home following this game in sole possession of last place in the NL East. The Marlins moved 1 1/2 games ahead of New York with their Saturday win.

The Mets didn’t score on Saturday until Mark Vientos’ two-out RBI single in the ninth and have been outscored 24-14 in the past five games.

The team-wide slump is reminiscent of the extended drought the Mets endured in April, when they lost 17 of their final 20 games of the month while averaging 2.7 runs per game. The slide started with a 12-game losing streak from April 8-21 — the longest skid for New York since 2002.

The Mets opened May by winning 11 of 16 games, a span in which they averaged 5.4 runs per contest.

“The past couple games, we’ve faced some good pitching,” Vientos said. “Obviously we haven’t done what we’ve wanted at the plate, but got to give credit where credit is due. The pitchers that we’ve faced, they’ve been doing their thing. And we’re just going to come (Sunday) and come back strong.”

Phillips, who has allowed more than one run just once in 15 relief appearances this season, will look to follow in the footsteps of Meyer and Eury Perez as the Marlins try to complete their first series sweep since March 27-29 against the Colorado Rockies.

Perez gave up one run on two hits — both to Juan Soto — over 6 1/3 innings in the series opener on Friday as he earned the 2-1 win for Miami.

Phillips, who has thrown three innings in relief four times this season, is taking the rotation spot of Braxton Garrett, who was demoted to Triple-A Jacksonville on Wednesday. The start against the Mets will be the first for Philips since last Sept. 7 and the ninth of his three-year big league career.

“We believe he has the pitches and the ability to start it,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He’s done it in the past, something we had spoken with him about last year and had stretched him out some on the fly. As circumstances have happened in recent weeks, felt like he’s been throwing the ball terrifically.”

Scott didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start last Monday, when he gave up three runs over four innings in New York’s 16-7, 12-inning win over the Nationals.

Phillips hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, when he allowed an unearned run over three innings in the Marlins’ 9-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

Scott is 0-2 with a 7.88 ERA in two career starts against the Marlins, and Phillips is 0-0 with an 0.00 ERA in five career relief appearances spanning 6 2/3 innings against the Mets.

–Field Level Media