Cardinals News: An Opening Day weekend breakdown

Jordan Walker shakes hands with the Red Jackets on Opening Day.
Jordan Walker shakes hands with the Red Jackets on Opening Day. | Joe Puetz/GettyImages
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Lineup was ready for Opening Day

Down 3-0 in the first inning, Nolan Arenado got the scoring underway with a line drive single to left field, scoring Brendan Donovan. In the third inning, Tyler O'Neill showed off his strength with his first home run of the season with a fly to center field, scoring Willson Contreras. The blast traveled 403 feet at 105.2 mph.

This was O'Neill's fourth consecutive Opening Day homer.

Brendan Donovan hit his first home run of the season the next inning on a fly to right-center field, scoring Tommy Edman. The blast traveled 388 feet at 99 mph. The Cardinals took the lead in the next inning on a single to right field, scoring Donovan. The Cardinals retook the lead in the seventh inning as Jordan Walker, making his Major League debut, ground into a force-out, allowing Conteras to score.

Down 8-7 in the eighth inning, Arenado knocked a ground-rule double, knocking the ball 291 feet at 107.4 mph. Unfortunately, that was all the Cardinals could put together, as they couldn't hold off some ninth-inning magic from the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays won 10-9.

It was great to see that the team didn't give up on hitting and did scrap-together runs. Unfortunately, nine runs weren't enough Thursday.

Schedule