By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Louis Cardinals entered this year looking to bounce back from a rough 2024, coming in with a resurgence of youth. That youth movement showed some good signs on Opening Day, as the Cardinals won 5-3 over the Minnesota Twins after a nearly hour and half long rain delay.
Rain didn't hamper the Cardinals offense though, getting on the board right away in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Brendan Donovan that drove in Lars Nootbaar. In the second inning, it was Nootbaar that added to the scoring, blasting a two run home run to right field, putting the Cardinals up 3-0 at the end of two innings.
The St. Louis scoring run continued into the third inning as well. After Donovan and Nolan Arenado both singled to open the inning, Alec Burleson grounded into a double play, but with two outs Iván Herrera singled into right field to bring Donovan home to score, extending the lead to 4-0.
After pitching four scoreless innings, the Twins were finally able to get to Cardinals starter Sonny Gray in the fifth inning. Former Cardinal Harrison Bader smacked a line drive two run home run to left field to cut the Redbirds lead in half at Busch Stadium. After Gray walked Matt Wallner though, he forced Carlos Correa to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Gray was pulled to start the sixth inning in favor of reliever Kyle Leahy. After Leahy walked Trevor Larnach, he surrendered a single to Ryan Jeffers, and then with two outs, Leahy was pulled for John King, who went to give up a double to Willi Castro, scoring Larnach, and leaving the run charged to Leahy, cutting the Cardinals lead to 4-3.
The final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning helped secure the game for the Cardinals, a solo home run by Nolan Arenado. Arenado, who turned down a trade to Houston in the offseason, took a curtain call for the sellout crowd after his home run
Ryan Helsley, who led the National League and Major League Baseball last year in saves, came on in the ninth and struck out three batters, only surrendering one hit, a double to Bader.
Gray earned the win against his former club, pitching five innings, striking out six and giving up two runs on four hits, while walking two. Nootbaar (2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI's), Donovan (2-4, 1 RBI), Arenado (2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI), and Herrera (2-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB) led the way hitting on the day. It was the first time the Cardinals won on Opening Day for the first time since 2022.
Cardinals and Twins will be back in action on Saturday. Erick Fedde will take the mound for St. Louis against Joe Ryan for Minnesota. First pitch will be at 1:15pm, coverage will begin at 12:20 on KY 102 (102.5FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.