Cardinals debut with loss to Liriano, Pirates

PITTSBURGH -- Adam Wainwright felt and looked a little more like the Adam Wainwright of old. The St. Louis ace's curveball looped. The fastball cut. Neither happened often enough or well enough to fend off the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pittsburgh chipped away at Wainwright in six solid if not spectacular innings as the Cardinals fell 4-1 in the 2016 Major League Baseball season opener on Sunday. In his first regular season start since tearing his Achilles last April, Wainwright gave up three runs on six hits, walking three and striking out three in his fifth career opening day start.

"I certainly got better as I went along," Wainwright said. "But I'm still a little off timing or something. There's something that has not clicked yet. I feel it at times and I know I'm very close to it.

Pittsburgh's Francisco Liriano left Wainwright little margin for error. Liriano tied a Pirates franchise opening day record by striking out 10, and the Cardinals left 10 runners on base, including two in the ninth when Matt Adams, representing the tying run, flied out to center.

"When you pitch against a quality pitcher like Liriano you've got to have your stuff rolling," Wainwright said. "I was the definition of average today, which is the opposite of what I expect to be."

Liriano and John Jaso touched Wainwright for RBI singles in the second, and Josh Harrison added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

"I thought he did a nice job of keeping it together," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "Really it was a bloop fly over the infield and a grounder that cost him early. But after that, he was very good."

Just not good enough to keep up with Liriano. St. Louis tested him in the second, third and sixth only to come up empty each time.

"We had guys in scoring position with less than two outs more than once, and that's something we take a lot of pride in figuring out how to get it done," Matheny said. "It just didn't happen today."

The Cardinals tried to rally in the ninth against Mark Melancon, who led the majors in saves last year. Matt Carpenter hit an RBI single with two outs but Adams hit a shallow fly to center that Andrew McCutchen tracked down.

Old friends

David Freese, who won the 2011 World Series MVP for the Cardinals, had two hits in his debut with the Pirates. Freese signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in March after spending part of the winter working out with Wainwright in Florida.

"When he has history with our team like he does, it's hard not to think about that kind of stuff going into the game and remembering his great moments here," Wainwright said. "At gametime, you've got to start competing. I was out there, I wasn't thinking about any of that."

Freese later made a nifty stop at third base, and Pirates reliever Neftali Feliz pointed his glove at him in appreciation. In Game 6 of the 2011 World Series against Texas, the Cardinals were down to their last strike when Freese hit a tying triple off Feliz.

Trainer's room

Cardinals left fielder Tommy Pham left in the second inning with tightness in his left oblique. Matt Holliday, who was making his first career start at first base after more than 1,663 games in either left field or as a designated hitter, moved back to left to replace Pham. Adams took over at first for Holliday.

Cardinals reserve catcher Brayan Pena started the season on the disabled list.

Pena is dealing with a left knee injury sustained when he slipped while entering the dugout during an exhibition game. The team placed Pena on the 15-day disabled list Sunday. Eric Fryer will serve as the primary backup behind perennial All-Star Yadier Molina.

Pitchers Jordan Walden (right shoulder strain) joined Pena on the 15-day disabled list.