ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals sparked the season the way they wanted with runs created by their new leadoff hitter and runs robbed by their young center fielder, but by the late innings, it took something strikingly familiar to ice an Opening Day victory.

Holding fast to a slim lead — just like so many of the nail-biter games a year ago — that’s how closer Ryan Helsley began the encore of his record-setting 49-save season.

After Game 1, he has one.

Delivered a lead by new setup men Chris Roycroft and Phil Maton, Helsley sped through the Minnesota Twins in the ninth inning to secure a 5-3 victory Thursday evening at Busch Stadium. An opener delayed an hour and 38 minutes by rain ended swiftly with Helsley spinning a 90-mph slider past the potential tying run at the plate.

Lars Nootbaar launched the Cardinals to an early lead with his second-inning homer, and Nolan Arenado provided cushion for Helsley with a solo homer in the eighth. Coaxed out of the dugout for a curtain call, Arenado — the subject of trade talks all winter — cupped his hand to his ear to encourage more from the sellout crowd of 47,395.

Before Arenado’s homer, Roycroft and Maton, the only newcomer on the Cardinals roster, preserved a one-run lead through the seventh and eighth innings. As a duo, the right-handers retired six of the seven batters they faced.

Right-hander Sonny Gray ditched a rocky spring with five strong innings and six strikeouts to go 3-0 in his career in four opening day starts.

As the Cardinals begin their 134th season in the National League and 20th at their current ballpark, they improved to 38-33 when hosting a game on Major League Baseball’s opening day.

They are the only NL Central team to win its opener in 2025.

Start ’em up

Leadoff hitter Nootbaar staked the Cardinals to an early lead with a single in the first to spark a rally, then a home run in the second to power one. The outfielder scored or drove home the Cardinals’ first three runs against Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez. Nootbaar also short-circuited the starter briefly by boldly taking off from first base in the first inning to coax a balk.

The liner off his bat to start the game, the eagerness to take an offered base and the ability to score from second on a single — all elements the Cardinals want in their offense.

Three singles in the first inning fizzled into one run, however, because of the specter of last year’s troubles: providing thump with runners in scoring position. So Nootbaar did that, too. In the second inning, Jordan Walker singled, forced an error when he tried to steal second and advanced to third on a ground ball. That was his view when Nootbaar sent a change-up beyond the right field wall for a 3-0 lead.

Ivan Herrera widened the lead in the third before the Twins began nibbling away.

Sonny side up

A few days removed from flu-like symptoms and the funk that followed him through spring, Gray had a succinct answer for how he would compete if he still did not have his velocity.

“You just pitch,” he said. “You just pitch. Being a pitcher.”

It didn’t take long for Gray to show how without speed from his hand he had plenty sleight of hand. Gray retired the Twins in order on six pitches in the first inning. The hardest-hit ball was tracked down in right field by Walker.

Gray got the first of his six strikeouts for the second out of the game, and a popup ended the first.

In spring, Gray allowed 20 runs in 14 1/3 innings, being peppered eight home runs allowed and 17 strikeouts collected into those eventful innings. He had games where he had to exit innings that got too busy and reenter after a reliever had tidied it up.

There would be no spring-loaded escape hatch Thursday.

No need for it, either.

Unbeaten in his previous three opening day starts, Gray bopped around two singles and a walk in the second inning to keep the Twins scoreless because he was able to slip a sweeping slider past Jose Miranda to regain control of the inning. In the fourth, Gray struck out the Twins in order, getting the first two on sinkers before delivering the sweeper to punctuate the inning. Gray began the fifth with three consecutive curveballs to strike out Willi Castro.

The Cardinals starter did not have a pitch zip faster than 92 mph, but what he did was offer up a variety of pitches at similar speeds with different movements. He got 12 swings and misses, and his sinker, four-seam and cutter all left his fingers in the 88 to 91 mph range. That blurred how some of his pitches registered by Statcast — making it just as confused as a hitters.

It wasn’t until the fifth that a Twin connected with any authority.

Bader breaks it up

The swing that did it came from the player who got one of the loudest ovations of the day.

Back in St. Louis with a new team, Harrison Bader started in left field and batted ninth for Minnesota. The last of the players introduced from either team Thursday, Bader received a hearty ovation from the Busch crowd. With a chance to crack Gray’s scoreless start, Bader popped out in the second inning. With another chance in the fifth, Bader didn’t miss. His two-run homer into the seats beyond left field cleaved the Cardinals lead in half.

Defense held firm between the Twins and a tie game.

Sprinting Scott catches up

Hours earlier, John Mozeliak mentioned that entering spring he did not expect Victor Scott II to break with the team, and even with seven days remaining in camp, he would not have seen Scott on the Opening Day active roster. The second-year speedster changed all that with his performance and lively action at the plate, but Mozeliak casually referenced another factor Scott brought to the Cardinals’ choice for center field.

“Elite defense,” Mozeliak said.

Consider the sixth.

A snazzy double play started by Brendan Donovan at second and ended the fifth inning for Gray without giving up another run. With Gray out of the game, the sixth could have gone sideways if not for a gem from Scott. Twins first baseman Ty France tagged a line drive into the right-center gap that left his bat at 101.8 mph. The expected average of such a hit was .570 – but it plummeted to zero when Scott, at full-speed, lunged out to snare the ball before hitting the warning track.

The catch saved a run for reliever Kyle Leahy and that proved essential for later in the inning when a two-out single cut the Cardinals’ lead down that one run.

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