(Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)

Hunter Dobbins will go up against a formidable opposite number in his Cardinals debut on Thursday afternoon when St. Louis opposes the host Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 26-year-old right-hander will face the Pirates' ace, reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes (4-1, 2.48 ERA).

St. Louis has won the first three contests of the four-game series after holding on for a 5-4 victory on Thursday night, which ended with Nathan Church leaping at the left field wall to snare Nick Gonzales' long drive with a runner on.

Dobbins will be activated from the injured list to make a spot start with St. Louis in the team's stretch of 17 games in 17 days. Dobbins has been on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis, where he went 3-0 with a 4.37 ERA in five starts.

The Texas Tech product is set to make his first major league appearance since last July, when he was a member of the Boston Red Sox and tore his right ACL during a fielding play. That injury and an elbow strain limited him to 61 innings as a rookie in 2025.

Dobbins will be trying to follow an outstanding start by Andre Pallante on Wednesday night, in which he allowed a run and five hits over six innings.

Dobbins went 4-1 with a 4.13 ERA, 17 walks and 45 strikeouts in 13 games (11 starts) for the Red Sox last year.

The Cardinals obtained Dobbins and two other pitching prospects when they traded Willson Contreras to Boston in December.

Dobbins faced only two of Pittsburgh's current players last season. Jake Mangum singled against him as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, and Ryan O'Hearn went 0-for-2 vs. Dobbins while playing for the Baltimore Orioles.

Skenes, who has 30 strikeouts and a 0.72 WHIP in 29 innings, is coming off a 6-0 win over the host Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in which he took a perfect game into the seventh. Jake Bauers' two-out groundball single broke up the quest for perfection.

Skenes had to settle for seven innings of one-hit, scoring ball. He struck out a season-best seven, walked none and threw a season-high 93 pitches.

'That's the best I've ever seen from anyone, I think,' Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after the game.

Opponents are hitting .141 against Skenes this season. He held foes to a .198 average while winning NL Rookie of the Year in 2024 and a .199 average in his Cy Young campaign last season.

'I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that he came up two years ago and he's in his third season in the big leagues,' Pirates manager Don Kelly said. 'He's continuing to get better, which is amazing considering what he's already done in the game.'

Even so, Skenes has yet to defeat St. Louis in his short career. Despite a 2.39 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings over six starts against the Cardinals, Skenes has a 0-4 record in those contests. St. Louis has only managed 27 hits with seven walks against him.

Though his try for a game-winning walk-off home run was foiled by Church, Gonzales did extend his hitting streak to 10 games with a single earlier Wednesday night.

--Field Level Media