Lars Nootbaar homered and Sonny Gray pitched five solid innings to help the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Twins in their rain-delayed opener Thursday.
Nolan Arenado also went deep for the Cardinals late in the game. The first pitch was pushed back by 1 hour, 38 minutes.
Harrison Bader hit a two-run shot for Minnesota against his former team.
Nootbaar slammed a two-run drive off Pablo Lopez in the second inning to stake the Cardinals to a 4-0 lead.
Gray allowed two runs and four hits. He struck out six and threw 49 strikes in his 77-pitch outing. Gray pitched for the Twins from 2022-23.
The Cardinals’ bullpen gave up just one run over four innings. Ryan Helsley earned the save.
Bader played parts of six seasons (2017-22) with the Cardinals. He homered off Gray in the fifth to cut it to 4-2.
Arenado, who turned down a trade to Houston in the offseason, took a curtain call for the sellout crowd after his home run in the eighth pushed the lead to 5-3.
Key moment
St. Louis outfielder Victor Scott II saved two runs by tracking down a long drive off the bat of Ty France with two on and one out in the sixth. Scott made a backhand catch right in front of the warning track. The Cardinals were clinging to a 4-2 lead at the time.
Key stat
Gray struggled mightily in spring training, going 0-3 with a 12.56 ERA in four starts. He gave up eight home runs in 14 1/3 innings. But he came out and set down the side in order in three of the first four innings Thursday.
Up next
Minnesota RHP Joe Ryan (7-7, 3.60 ERA last season) faces RHP Erick Fedde (9-9, 3.30) when the three-game series resumes Saturday afternoon.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.