After 6 long months, baseball has finally returned, as the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates faced off for the first MLB game of the season at noon CST today. However, Cardinals fans didn’t have much to celebrate once the game began.
St. Louis was off on a bad foot (almost literally) in the first inning, as left fielder and #2 hitter Tommy Pham exited the game with tightness in his left oblique, an injury still being evaluated. Manager Mike Matheny said that Pham felt tightness in BP, but still started, only to be taken out in the first. In his absence, first baseman Matt Holliday, whose stint at the new position lasted all of an inning, moved back to his usual place in left, while Matt Adams took over 1B and the #2 spot.
Almost immediately after, Pittsburgh starter Francisco Liriano began to steamroll the Cardinals offense; he struck out 5 batters in a row, ranging from Holliday until Kolten Wong in the third, and eventually totaled 10 strikeouts, while walking 5 batters but preventing any runs from crossing the plate.
Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright made his fifth Opening Day start, and his first start since late April 2015, before he suffered his season-ending Achilles injury. Waino struggled off the bat, likely furthered by an early challenge by manager Mike Matheny that left him standing in the cold for several minutes. He got into his groove later, putting up a quality start, but not missing as many bats as usual.
The Bucs struck first in the second inning, with pitcher Francisco Liriano driving in the first run, doing a bit of everything. A single by first baseman John Jaso then put the Pirates up 2-0. The Cards came up every inning looking to recover, but were never able to–the persisting issue of leaving runners on base was ever-prevalent, as the bases were left loaded twice with Kolten Wong at the plate. The strikeouts certainly didn’t help, as the Cards tallied 14 altogether.
The Pirates defense was also on display on several occasions, not doing the poor offense any favors; former Cardinal and World Series hero, third baseman David Freese hit third in the Pirates lineup and flashed the leather several times on the hot corner, while tallying 2 hits.
The Bucs scored once more, now leading 3-0, on a sac-fly by Josh Harrison; although the lead was increased, we got a preview of center fielder Randal Grichuk‘s recovered arm, as he gunned down Gregory Polanco as he advanced to second.
After Koren reliever and new pickup Seung-Hwan Oh struck out the side in the seventh, and reliever Seth Maness struggled in the 8th, allowing a run on a Jordy Mercer double, the Cardinals put up a fight in the ninth inning versus closer Mark Melancon. Matt Carpenter drove in a run on a single, but it wasn’t enough to put the Cardinals back in the game, as they fell to the Pirates 4-1.
The Cards take on the Pirates at PNC Park Tuesday at 6:05 CST, with Michael Wacha projected to face off with Jon Neise.
Follow Galen Bacharier on Twitter @gbach_
Featured image: Francisco Liriano #47 of the Pittsburgh Pirates throws the first pitch during opening day against Matt Carpenter #13 of the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on April 3, 2016 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. By Getty Images/Justin K. Aller.
