Minnesota Twins at St. Louis Cardinals

· Major League Baseball

Minnesota Twins

0-1, 0-1 Away

Final
3 - 5

St. Louis Cardinals

1-0, 1-0 Home

Arenado homers and Gray pitches Cardinals past Twins 5-3 in rain-delayed opener

Nolan Arenado belts a solo HR for the Cardinals

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.

How can I watch Minnesota Twins vs. St. Louis Cardinals?

TV Channel: Twins at Cardinals 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on FanDuel SN MW.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Wallner struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Bader doubled to left.
	9th Inning	Miranda struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Castro struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Helsley relieved Maton
	9th Inning	Scott II in right field.

Statistics

MIN		STL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
9	Ground Balls	15
11	Strikeouts	5
3	Runs Batted In	5
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
8	Hits	10
1	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
3	Runs	5
1	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
34	At Bats	33
1	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
15	Runners Left On Base	13
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	1
14	Fly Balls	13
0	Caught Stealing	1
147	Pitches	151
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
13	Total Bases	17
37	Plate Appearances	35
162.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
3	Extra Base Hits	3
3.8	Runs Created	5.0
.235	Batting Average	.303
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.382	Slugging Percentage	.515
.265	Secondary Average	.242
.297	On Base Percentage	.343
.680	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.858
0.6	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
3.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	5.4
28.0	Batter Rating	38.0
34.0	At Bats Per Home Run	16.5
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.97	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.31
.147	Isolated Power	.212
0.27	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.40
.081	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.057
.029	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.061
6.0	Runs Produced	10.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.6
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
77.8	MLB Rating	89.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0