The St. Louis Cardinals announced prior to tonight’s game in Philadelphia, that they have recalled rookie left-handed pitcher Génesis Cabrera (pronounced hen-e-sis) from Memphis (AAA) and optioned outfielder Lane Thomas to the triple-A Redbirds.
Cabrera, 22, will be making his Major League debut tonight and will become the 2,000th player to appear in a game for the Cardinals in their 128-year history as a member of the National League dating to 1892.
The Dominican-born Cabrera was 2-3 with a 6.35 ERA in nine games (7 starts) for Memphis this season, but has gone 6.0 innings in each of his past three starts, and allowed just four runs for a 3.00 ERA in his last two outings, the most recent a 4-2 win on May 21 at Nashville.
The 6-2, 190-pound Cabrera was acquired by the Cardinals last July 31 in a four-player trade with the Tampa Bay Rays that sent outfielder Tommy Pham to Tampa Bay. Cabrera earned All-Star selections in both 2018 (Southern League-AA) and 2016 (Midwest League-A), and he was named the 2018-19 Dominican Winter League Rookie of the Year.
Cabrera, who wears uniform no. 61, will become the first Cardinal to make his Major League debut as a starting pitcher since Daniel Ponce de Leon (7/23/18 at CIN) and the first lefty to do so since Tim Cooney (4/30/15 vs. PHI). There have been just three past Cardinals pitchers to make their M.L. debuts in starts at Philadelphia: Al Olmsted (1980), Gordie Richardson (1964) and Mort Cooper (1938). All three worked nine innings or more, including 9-1/3 innings by Olmsted in a 5-0 Cardinals win in 11 innings.
