Minnesota Twins lose 5-3 to St. Louis Cardinals in season opener
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 on Thursday.
Nolan Arenado also went deep late in the game for the Cardinals.
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.
