McGough will serve as the Diamondbacks' opening pitcher for Sunday's game against the Padres, Jesse Friedman of GoPHNX.com reports.
McGough was called up from Triple-A Reno on Saturday and threw a scoreless inning (11 pitches) in the Diamondback's 13-1 loss. Saturday's usage should not alter plans to have him open Sunday. Though McGough will make his second career start, he can be considered an opener after exclusively working out of the bullpen in both the majors and minors in 2024 and having yet to throw more than two innings in any of his 26 appearances. Manager Torey Lovullo didn't reveal if the Diamondbacks would lean on a primary pitcher out of the bullpen behind McGough, though the skipper suggested that Arizona would call up another arm from Triple-A to help cover some innings. Among the available pitchers currently in the Arizona bullpen, Bryce Jarvis (three days' rest) and Justin Martinez (four days' rest) are the freshest arms who could be part of the pitching plan Sunday. Over his 16 outings with the big club this season, McGough has logged a 6.35 ERA and 1.65 WHIP across 17 innings.