ST. LOUIS -- The Giants telegraphed a change in their future behind the plate on Saturday, when they reinstated Joey Bart from the injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento rather than fold him back onto the 26-man roster.

Bart, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, had long been viewed as the heir apparent to franchise icon Buster Posey. But Bart has struggled to establish himself as a regular in the Majors since debuting on Aug. 20, 2020.

It became clear that Bart was running out of runway with the Giants when the club decided to stage a catching competition this spring. Amid Bart’s prolonged struggles, a new successor to Posey has emerged: Patrick Bailey.

Bailey continued to solidify his status as the Giants’ primary catcher on Monday night, going 2-for-3 with a walk and scoring the go-ahead run on Brandon Crawford’s single in the eighth inning of a series-opening 4-3 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Aside from his contributions at the plate, Bailey, ranked as the club’s No. 11 prospect by MLB Pipeline, also called each of ace right-hander Logan Webb’s pitches for the first time this season.

Webb, who earned the win after giving up three runs over seven innings to go with six strikeouts, had been calling his own games via PitchCom this season. But he’s developed such a good relationship with Bailey that Webb decided to entrust the 24-year-old rookie with those duties.

“It’s an honor,” Bailey said. “I don’t take it lightly. I take a lot of pride in it. Hopefully things just continue to work out and get better, and we continue to build off such a good year he’s having.”

“I trust him,” said Webb, who only shook Bailey off a couple of times. “I thought he did a great job. I thought he was awesome.”

Mitch Haniger, who entered Monday mired in a 5-for-36 (.139) slump over his previous 10 games, also delivered an encouraging performance. He logged a two-out RBI double off Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore in the third before adding a game-tying single in the seventh.

The Giants (34-32) also got multihit efforts from Austin Slater, Wilmer Flores and Crawford, as well as a four-out save from closer Camilo Doval.

The switch-hitting Bailey drew a walk and singled while batting right-handed against Liberatore, but his most impressive plate appearance came when he turned around to hit from his stronger side against former Giants right-hander Chris Stratton in the eighth.

Bailey worked a full count and fouled off five consecutive pitches before driving the 11th pitch of the at-bat into left-center field for a one-out double. That brought up Crawford, who bounced a single through the left side of the infield to knock in Bailey from second and put the Giants ahead for good.

“A couple of times, I was frustrated because I felt like I missed some pitches to hit, but I was just trying to see something deep and not cheat to the heater to see his offspeed well,” Bailey said. “I was able to get to the heater and got a good pitch to hit, so it was nice.”

Since debuting with the Giants on May 19, Bailey is batting .317 with an .899 OPS, two homers and 14 RBIs over 18 games. Still, his calling card continues to be his stellar defense, which he displayed when he threw out Jordan Walker attempting to steal with a perfect throw to second base in the third.

Crawford didn’t even have to move his glove to receive the 83.2 mph throw from Bailey.

“It was pretty good,” said Bailey, who has thrown out six of 17 runners who have tried to steal on him this season. “Not my best.”

Bailey, the Minor League Gold Glove Award winner behind the plate in 2022, threw out 69 of 225 would-be basestealers (31 percent) last season, so his arm is expected to be a key asset for Giants pitchers moving forward.

“It’s going to get to the point where guys stop running,” Webb said. “Since it’s his first time in the big leagues, they’re testing him out. Obviously, he’s showing that he’s pretty good at that. …

“You’ve got to respect his arm. It’s a special arm.”