Reds vs. Cardinals rain delay: Details, weather updates, game start time

Update (2:53 p.m. ET): The game will resume at 3:15 p.m. ET.

Cincinnati Reds starter Andrew Abbott was off to a hot-start, holding the St. Louis Cardinals to just one run, and were it not for an Elly De La Cruz error, Abbott might be tossing a shutout. But Abbott couldn't keep the weather at bay, and as the clouds rolled in, the tarp was unrolled and the game between the Reds and Cards came to a screeching halt.

No one ever likes to see the game paused, but given the forecast, it was the right call. Play will hopefully resume at some point this afternoon, and initial reports suggested that heavy rainfall was on tap for at least 45 minutes. Looking ahead at the advanced forecast, the bad weather appears to be headed out of Cincinnati by at least the early evening, so there's certainly hope that this game can be wrapped up at some point on Thursday before the Cards leave town.

Thursday represents the final game of a four-game series between the two ball clubs, and St. Louis holds a 1-2 edge at the moment. The Reds reshuffled their roster a bit before Thursday's game, sending both Alexis Diaz and Lyon Richardson to Triple-A. In turn, Cincinnati recalled Yosver Zulueta and promoted top pitching prospect Luis Mey. Both arms will be needed if this delay extends much past one hour.

Reds vs. Cardinals rain delay: Details, weather updates, game start time

The big question once play (hopefully) resumes is who will be on the mound for both Terry Francona and Oli Marmol? Abbott had just wrapped up his fourth inning of work, allowing only one run on four hits. The lefty, however, was rather inconsistent and did walk four Cardinals hitters while striking out three. At 74 pitches, this could be the end of the line for Abbott. Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore was still south of 50 pitches when the rain arrived.

The Reds have several fresh arms down in the bullpen thanks to Richardson and Brent Suter. After Chase Petty's early-exit from Wednesday's game, the duo of Richardson and Suter closed out and the game and helped to preserve the rest of the Reds bullpen.

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