ST. LOUIS -- The top of the sixth inning on Opening Day at Busch Stadium was a real slog for Cardinals pitching, as three St. Louis relievers combined to allow six Tampa Bay runs.
But before the bottom of that same frame had concluded, the Cardinals' new-look offense had its say.
The Cardinals piled up eight runs in the frame, turning a six-run deficit into a two-run advantage in an inning that saw 14 combined runs. Dancing around a couple of late-inning threats, the back end of St. Louis' bullpen stayed the course as the Cardinals beat the Rays, 9-7, on Thursday afternoon.
Per Elias, it's only the second time where both teams scored six-plus runs in an inning on Opening Day. The Boston Beaneaters and Brooklyn Bridegrooms did so on April 19, 1890.
Alec Burleson led off the onslaught with an unassuming single to right field, but he punctuated it with a majestic two-run blast to right to cement the dizzying sequence in front of a frenzied Busch Stadium.
While it seemed for a spell that JJ Wetherholt’s MLB debut home run would be all that the sold-out crowd would have to celebrate, the Cardinals piled up eight runs on eight hits to flip the script. St. Louis blitzed the Rays’ bullpen, charging three relievers with at least one run.
After the preceding offseason saw the club trade away mainstays Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado, it was inevitable that St. Louis' 2026 lineup would have a different look about it.
With varying expectations surrounding the club in terms of outside punditry, manager Oliver Marmol has leaned into his own personal expectations for a particular style of play, a certain brand of baseball that he anticipates the public will see from his group this season.
Thursday’s bottom of the sixth had that, as St. Louis used eight hits -- including everything from a Victor Scott II bunt single to Burleson’s home run -- and a pair of well-timed sacrifice flies from Wetherholt and Iván Herrera to produce the game-changing scoring rally.