(Photo credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images)

Longtime Athletics ace Sonny Gray remarkably will make his first career start in San Francisco against the Giants on Wednesday night.

The Cardinals (78-80) rallied from five runs down to overtake the Giants 9-8 on Tuesday night, eliminating San Francisco (77-81) from postseason contention.

St. Louis has the slimmest of life left in the race for the third National League wild-card spot. Advancing, however, is unlikely. They are 3 1/2 games back of the New York Mets (81-76) by 3 1/2 games and four games to play, with the Cincinnati Reds (80-77) and Arizona Diamondbacks (80-77) each a game behind the Mets.

Gray (14-8, 4.33), who began his career in 2013 on the Oakland side of the San Francisco Bay as a rotation mainstay for A's for 4 1/2 seasons, has faced the Giants eight times -- all at his home park. That included two games for the A's (2014-15), two for the Reds (2019-21), two for the Minnesota Twins (2022-23) and two for the Cardinals (2024-25).

He pitched in 32 ballparks since his debut for the A's at PNC Park in Pittsburgh in July 2013. But never in San Francisco.

The 35-year-old has gone 4-1 against the Giants in those eight home starts with a 3.18 ERA.

Gray has two goals within reach Wednesday in the finale of the three-game series.

For the first time since 14-10 and 14-7 seasons with the A's in 2014 and 2015, he has a shot at a career-best 15th win. That would require extending his personal winning streak to three, a run that began with 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball in a 4-3 win over the Giants on Sept. 7.

He also is within six of a 200-strikeout season, which would make him the first Cardinals to reach the milestone in consecutive seasons since Adam Wainwright in 2009-10.

At the same time, there's a team incentive, too.

'No matter what the outside narrative is, you still have to believe that you can go out there and win,' he told reporters recently. 'We're still hanging in there. We're still showing up expecting to win.'

The veteran will see a Giants team that for the first time this season will arrive at the ballpark knowing there will be no more games in 2025 after Sunday's regular-season finale against the Colorado Rockies.

'It's something we have to deal with,' Giants manager Bob Melvin said of the elimination at his postgame press conference. 'Pretty frustrating. Everybody is none too happy about it. This was a day we were not looking forward to, and it's here. It's disappointing.'

Right-hander JT Brubaker (0-0, 3.65) will make his first start of the season following 16 relief appearances. Five of those appearances have come for the Giants, who signed Brubaker after the New York Yankees released him last month.

The 31-year-old has made nine appearances (eight starts) against the Cardinals and is 0-6 with a 6.20 ERA.

The Giants were scheduled to start veteran Robbie Ray but replaced him with Brubaker. It appears Ray will be shut down for the rest of the season after throwing 182 1/3 innings over 32 starts. Injuries limited him to a combined 34 innings over the past two seasons. He will finish the season with an 11-8 record and 3.65 ERA.

-- Field Level Media