(Sports Network) - Veteran southpaw Mark Redman gets the call for the Colorado Rockies today when the defending National League champions open their 2008 Coors Field schedule with the first game of a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Redman, a 34-year-old native of San Diego, was a first-round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins in 1995. He split last season between Atlanta and Colorado and made just 11 big-league appearances, going 2-4 in 41 1/3 innings while allowing 35 earned runs.

The 6-foot-5, 245-pounder has reached double digits in wins four times, with his career-high 14 wins coming in 2003 with the World Series champion Florida Marlins. He also won 12 games in 2000 with the Twins, 11 in 2004 with Oakland and 11 in 2006 with Kansas City.

Redman is 3-2 in five lifetime starts against Arizona with a 3.14 earned run average in 28 2/3 innings.

Second-year right-hander Micah Owings will start for the Diamondbacks after reaching the big leagues and making 29 appearances, including 27 starts, in 2007.

Owings, a 25-year-old product of Tulane University, was 8-8 with a 4.30 ERA over 152 2/3 innings last season, striking out 106 while walking 50 and holding opponents to a .253 batting average.

He has never faced the Rockies.

On Thursday in Cincinnati, Johnny Cueto struck out 10 batters and allowed just one hit over seven innings in his major league debut, as the Reds held on for a 3-2 victory over the Diamondbacks in the rubber match of a three-game series at Great American Ball Park.

Justin Upton's home run broke up Cueto's perfect game in the sixth and had the lone hit for the Diamondbacks, while Doug Davis (0-1) took the loss after surrendering three runs -- two earned -- on four hits with six walks and four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

In St. Louis, Albert Pujols had two hits and scored a run, and St. Louis rode the arm of Brad Thompson to a 3-0 victory over in the rubber match of a three- game set at Busch Stadium.

Dominican native Ubaldo Jimenez was saddled with the loss for Colorado, which has dropped back-to-back regular season games for the first time in more than six months.

Jimenez (0-1) was chased in the fifth, having surrendered three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. He worked with a mid-90's fastball, a solid breaking pitch and a change-up, but struggled with his command in walking five batters.

Garrett Atkins went 3-for-4 and Chris Iannetta had two hits for the Rockies.

Colorado won the season series, 10-8, a year ago, but the D'Backs are 31-24 in the matchup since the start of the 2005 season.