The cupboard in the Cincinnati minor league system is full of prospects, so it was inevitable the rebuilding Reds would start bringing up talent to the big leagues.

On Monday night, it was Matt McLain, and the 23-year-old shortstop didn’t disappoint. He got his first hit and scored two runs in his major league debut against the Colorado Rockies, looking as if he belongs.

Unfortunately for him, the Reds lost 9-8 to the Rockies on Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Denver. The teams will meet again Tuesday night, with Cincinnati debuting another prospect, left-hander Brandon Williamson, who was called up Monday.

He will face right-hander Chase Anderson, who will make his first start with the Rockies after being claimed off waivers on Friday.

If Williamson’s first major league game is as successful as McLain’s, the Reds will have a chance to even the series. McLain, who was ranked by MLB Pipeline as the organization’s No. 5 prospect, showed his value in his second at-bat on Monday night.

McLain blooped a hit to center field and used his speed to stretch it to a double. Moments later, he scored on a single, just sliding past the tag of catcher Austin Wynns.

McLain earned a shot to stay in the lineup.

“He fits right into our team, plays the game the right way, plays hard. He works hard,” Cincinnati manager David Bell said. “He’s here for one thing, to go out and win a baseball game, so he’ll fit in beautifully to our team. It was determined that he was ready for it, and he’s going to get an opportunity to play.”

Williamson, 25, went 2-4 with a 6.62 ERA in eight starts for Triple-A Louisville this season. Last year, he finished with a combined 6-7 record and a 4.11 ERA in 27 starts between Double-A and Triple-A.

Anderson will face his former team in his first start of the season. The Reds traded the veteran to Tampa Bay on May 3, and he made two relief appearances for the Rays, picking up a save that day in his first game with them.

He pitched again last Tuesday but was designated for assignment on Wednesday despite throwing a combined five scoreless innings in his two outings.

Anderson has faced Cincinnati 16 times in his career, 15 of them starts, going 6-3 with a 3.72 ERA.

Colorado brought in Anderson to help fill a hole in the rotation. The team has lost three starters to injury over the last month — German Marquez (Tommy John surgery), Antonio Senzatela (right elbow sprain) and Ryan Feltner, who sustained a skull fracture and a concussion when he was hit by a line drive on Saturday.

The Rockies, like the Reds, are giving young prospects a chance to prove themselves this season, and Colorado outfielder Brenton Doyle has seized his opportunity. Doyle hit two home runs in the Monday win, giving him three long balls in the past two games.

He also made a diving catch on Monday that kept Cincinnati from mounting a big rally.

“I take a lot of pride in my defense,” Doyle said after the game.

He is impressing manager Bud Black.

“With Brenton, we’ve talked about his skill set, and it turned up (Monday) night,” Black said. “It’s good to see. He’s gaining confidence.”

–Field Level Media

The St. Louis Cardinals are far more imposing when third baseman Nolan Arenado is locked in at the plate.

Arenado has homered in four consecutive games and is 9-for-17 with 11 RBIs during that span. He will look to extend the hot streak on Tuesday during the middle game of a three-game series against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers.

“Nolan is feeling pretty good physically and mentally,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s a lot of fun to watch right now.”

Arenado hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs as the Cardinals pounded the Brewers 18-1 Monday. Nolan Gorman added a three-run homer and a two-run double, running his RBI string to five games.

The Cardinals have won seven of their past eight games immediately after a stretch in which they lost 11 of 12.

The Brewers will turn to Wade Miley (3-2, 3.60 ERA) in hopes of cooling off the St. Louis bats.

Miley is coming off his worst outing of this season: seven runs allowed on six hits (including three homers) in five-plus innings during an 8-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

“You have to execute,” Miley said after that defeat. “At the end of the day, I didn’t execute pitches out of the stretch. Out of the windup, everything was good. Even the two solo homers, you live with those. After that, I got in the stretch and it was poorly executed pitches, and obviously the results weren’t there.”

Miley had allowed three runs or fewer in each of his previous six starts while posting a 2.31 ERA during that span. He is 3-6 with a 4.07 ERA in 11 career starts against the Cardinals.

The Cardinals will counter with Jordan Montgomery (2-5, 4.11 ERA), who is coming off a 10-4 loss to the host Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. He allowed six runs on seven hits (including two homers) and three walks in five innings.

“Five (innings) with six runs ain’t it,” Montgomery said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Anything less than six innings a game is just a failure to me. I want to go out there and at least eat up innings for the guys.”

On April 8, Montgomery blanked the host Brewers for seven innings on three hits in a 6-0 victory. He stuck out a season-high nine batters in that game, which was the first of his five quality starts this season.

Montgomery is 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers.

Cardinals center fielder Dylan Carlson is questionable for the Tuesday game due to an ankle sprain he sustained on Sunday. He did not play on Monday.

“From what I’ve gathered from the training staff, it’s pretty much day-to-day,” Carlson said, according to MLB.com. “We’re just trying to be as proactive as possible.”

With first baseman Luke Voit sidelined due to a sore neck, the Brewers signed free agent Darin Ruf, who was designated for assignment last week by the San Francisco Giants.

“Darin does something that we haven’t been great at so far this year, and that’s hit left-handed pitching,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s what he’s made his name for since he came back from Korea, essentially. He’s been very good at it.”

–Field Level Media

Following what was an aberrant performance from ace left-hander Framber Valdez, the Houston Astros still managed to record a whopping 16 strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs on Monday.

Exactly half of the credit goes to the five-man bullpen of right-handers Phil Maton, Seth Martinez, Rafael Montero, Ryne Stanek and Hector Neris, who combined for eight strikeouts over five shutout innings in the Astros’ 6-4 victory in the opener of a three-game interleague series.

The teams will contest the middle game on Tuesday on Houston.

Valdez recorded eight strikeouts but allowed a season-high four earned runs while working a season-low four innings. The bullpen picked him up, with Stanek striking out the side in the eighth between a bounce-back performance from the scuffling Montero and a clean ninth inning from Neris, who notched his second save.

“We needed it,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said of the strong relief work. “Stanek, it’s just a matter of if he can get ahead of (hitters) because his fastball was excellent and his breaking ball was good. Maldy (catcher Martin Maldonado) kept him in the zone, so that was a big plus.”

That the Astros were able to stifle the Cubs late without using their top two relievers, Bryan Abreu and closer Ryan Pressly, was an added benefit at the start of a six-game homestand.

“It was good that we could give those other guys a break,” Baker said.

Right-hander Cristian Javier (3-1, 3.47 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Astros on Tuesday. In his previous outing, he fanned a season-high 11 batters while allowing two runs on three hits and issuing just one walk in a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. It was his fifth appearance this season in which he walked one or none.

It marked his second double-digit strikeout performance this season and the fifth of his career, with three of those coming against the Angels.

Javier will make his first career appearance against the Cubs. He is 1-2 with a 4.26 ERA in 16 career interleague appearances (nine starts).

Left-hander Justin Steele (6-0, 1.82 ERA) is the scheduled starter on Tuesday for Chicago, which has lost three games in a row and six of the past eight.

He had his streak of 14 consecutive appearances allowing two runs or fewer snapped in his previous start on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Steele surrendered three runs on seven hits and three walks with three strikeouts over six innings in a 10-4 victory.

Steele, who has registered seven quality starts in eight outings this season, will be making his first career appearance against Houston.

Among the five roster moves made by Chicago on Monday, one likely signaled the pending return of veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks.

The Cubs optioned rookie starter Hayden Wesneski to Triple-A Iowa, opening the door for Hendricks to rejoin the rotation in the near future. Hendricks has missed the entire season while recovering from shoulder woes but is on the mend following four recent rehab starts.

With off days bracketing their upcoming three-game weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cubs wouldn’t need Hendricks to make a start until sometime late next week.

“There’s no decisions past (Monday),” Cubs manager David Ross said. “We have some off days coming up. He’ll come in and probably throw a (bullpen session) with us before his next start.”

–Field Level Media