By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals narrowly fell to the Seattle Mariners 3-2 at Busch Stadium in their series opener as Mariners starter George Kirby won his third consecutive start and Josh Naylor hit a solo home run.
Seattle went up 1-0 in the second inning after former Cardinal Randy Arozarena led off with a double and scored on a two-out single to center by Cole Young. The Mariners extended their lead in the fourth inning on a two-out single by Dominic Canzone to drive in Naylor. In the bottom half of the fourth though, the Cardinals rallied from to tie the game when Masyn Winn hit a two-out bloop single to short right, scoring Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman.
Naylor broke the 2-2 tie though, when he led off the sixth inning by slamming a fastball 418 feet off Cardinals starter Andre Pallante. Pallante, who fell to 2-2 on the season, struck out eight and walked three while giving up four hits and all three in 5.1 innings.
At the plate, Gorman was 2-for-4 with a double, while Winn was 2-for-4 with two RBI's. Four other Cardinals had one hit each, with Nathan Church, JJ Wetherholt, Iván Herrera, and José Fermín each singling.
St. Louis and Seattle continue their series tomorrow. Matthew Liberatore (0-1, 3.67 ERA, 16K's) takes the mound for the Cardinals against Bryan Woo (1-2, 2.25 ERA, 26K's) for the Mariners. First pitch will be at 1:15pm, pregame coverage will begin near the start at 1:05 on KY 102 (102.5FM).
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