Cardinals blank Pirates on Opening Day 9-0

It was not the start to the season they hoped for, but the Pittsburgh Pirates were shut-out by the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-0, on Opening Day.

Tyler O’Neill and Harrison Bader each collected two hits while three Cardinal hitters posted a home run. Meanwhile, veteran Adam Wainwright extended his scoreless streak against the Pirates to 32 innings after six innings of work.

For Pittsburgh, J.T. Brubaker struggled, to put it lightly, in his first outing of the season, allowing four runs on four hits in just three innings of work. Offensively, Yoshi Tsutsugo went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles while catcher Roberto Perez went 1-for-2 with a walk.

In addition to losing the game, the Pirates lost two players to injury in the contest: 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes to a cramp in his left thumb and RHP Duane Underwood Jr. to left hamstring discomfort.

Hayes’ injury comes just hours after he agreed to an eight-year extension. His status is day-to-day, according to the team.

After an off day tomorrow, the Pirates return to Busch Stadium on Saturday to take on the Cardinals at 2:15 p.m.