Lars Nootbaar hit a two-run homer and scored twice to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a season-opening 5-3 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins Thursday.
Nolan Arenado hit a solo homer and Brendan Donovan went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for the Cardinals.
Cardinals starter Sonny Gray (1-0) allowed two runs on four hits in five innings to earn the victory. Ryan Helsley, the sixth St. Louis pitcher, earned the save.
Harrison Bader hit a two-run homer and Willi Castro hit an RBI double for the Twins.
Minnesota starting pitcher Pablo Lopez (0-1) allowed four runs, two earned, on eight hits in five innings.
After rain delayed the start of the game for 1 hour, 38 minutes, the Cardinals took a 1-0 first-inning lead. Nootbaar hit a leadoff single, took second on a balk and scored on Donovan’s single.
The Twins threatened in the second inning. Trevor Larnach hit a single and moved to third on Ty France’s one-out single. Willi Castro walked to load the bases.
But Gray defused the threat by striking out Jose Miranda and retiring Bader on a popout.
St. Louis upped its lead to 3-0 in the bottom half of the inning with a single by Jordan Walker and Nootbaar’s two-out, two-run homer.
Singles by Donovan, Nolan Arenado and Ivan Herrera increased the Cardinals’ lead to 4-0 in the third inning.
The Twins cut their deficit to 4-2 in the fifth inning on a single by Miranda and Bader’s two-run homer.
Minnesota trimmed it to 4-3 in the sixth inning off relievers Kyle Leahy and John King. Larnach walked with one out, Ryan Jeffers hit a single, and Castro hit a two-out RBI double.
Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II prevented a much bigger inning by sprinting into the right-center field gap with one out to rob France of a potential RBI double.
Arenado’s eighth-inning homer increased the Cardinals’ lead to 5-3.