ST. LOUIS -- Even though the heavy rains predicted for much of the St. Louis area on Wednesday never came, a decision was made to postpone the middle game of the Cubs-Cardinals series with more precipitation expected later in the night. Wednesday’s washout will be made up on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. CT at Busch Stadium as part of a split doubleheader.

Tickets for the Aug. 3 game will be valid for Thursday’s rescheduled 12:15 p.m. game. Additional Cardinals ticket policy details are available online at cardinals.com/tickets.

Miles Mikolas will pitch Game 1 early in the day on Thursday for St. Louis. José Quintana, the left-hander the Cardinals acquired in a trade with the Pirates on Monday, will make his Cards debut in Game 2, which is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m. The 11-year veteran, who pitched for the Cubs from 2017-20, is excited about being back in a pennant race and is eager to pitch in front of a likely packed house at Busch Stadium.

“The fans here are one of the best in baseball and they really support their team,” said Quintana, who was 3-5 with a 3.50 ERA with the Pirates before being traded. “They enjoy their baseball here. I was with Chicago most of the time [when he pitched in St. Louis] and now it’s really exciting to see how it’s going to feel being here and pitching for the Cardinals.”

The Cubs, who decided against dealing veteran catcher Willson Contreras and outfielder Ian Happ before Tuesday’s Trade Deadline, took two of three from the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in late June. However, they dropped Tuesday’s series opener 6-0 when Cardinals Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Dylan Carlson went deep. St. Louis holds a 5-4 lead in the season series against its storied rival.

Right-hander Marcus Stroman, who has an 0.89 ERA in his last four starts, will pitch Game 1 for Chicago. The Cubs have yet to decide on a starter for Game 2, but it won’t be Wednesday’s expected starter, Justin Steele. He has been pushed back to Friday’s 1:20 p.m. start against the Marlins.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol announced on Wednesday that rookie Andre Pallante -- who is coming off his best professional outing as a starter on Sunday in Washington -- will be moved back into a middle-innings relief role after the Cardinals acquired Jordan Montgomery, reliever Chris Stratton and Quintana in trades with the Yankees and Pirates respectively. Pallante was used as a “bridge reliever” with great success early in the season and he will assume that role again going forward.

Thursday could also see the return of two-time Gold Glover Tyler O’Neill to the Cardinals lineup. O’Neill, who had career highs in home runs (34) and RBIs (80) last season, has had a disjointed follow-up season while being bothered by shoulder, hamstring and wrist injuries. He left Saturday’s game in Washington because of a cramp in his upper left thigh and didn’t play Sunday or Tuesday. He was in the lineup on Wednesday before the game was postponed.

Yadier Molina, who caught the 153rd shutout of his career on Tuesday, was slated to be behind the plate Wednesday. He will catch Thursday’s Game 2 with Quintana pitching. Molina, who is in the final year of his 19-year career, returned to the lineup on Tuesday following a six-week break to calm the inflammation in his right knee. The two-time World Series champion is hoping to finish his career with another deep playoff run.

“This is it for me and you’ve got to give 200 percent every time you take the field, and then we’ll go from there and see what happens,” said Molina, who made his 317th start with pitcher Adam Wainwright to move into second place all alone in MLB history. “I feel mentally and physically ready. Right now, I’m back and hopefully I can catch every day.”

Andrew Knizner, who has worked well all season with Mikolas, will catch Game 1.