ST. LOUIS (AP) Michael Wacha allowed four hits in six scoreless innings and the St. Louis Cardinals had 10 extra-base hits Monday in routing the Milwaukee Brewers 10-1 in their home opener.
Jeremy Hazelbaker was 4 for 4 with a triple, double and sacrifice fly, lifting his average to .526, and fellow rookie Almedys Diaz had two doubles.
Yadier Molina had three hits, two RBIs and an uncontested steal off starter Taylor Jungmann (0-1) in second. Randal Grichuk drove in his first run of the season with a double.
Hall of Famer Lou Brock throw a strike to former teammate Ted Simmons on the ceremonial first pitch from halfway between the mound and the plate. The former base-stealing champ’s left leg was amputated below the knee in October, and he wears a prostheses.
Matt Carpenter added two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals, who have scored 10 or more runs in three straight games for the first time since 1980 and have won four in a row overall. They set a franchise record with 19 hits in the opener, one more than against the Pirates on April 5, 1974.
Chris Carter hit his third homer and Ryan Braun had two hits for Milwaukee, which has lost two of three.
Wacha (1-0) struck out seven and walked one, and gave up just four singles. In his first start of the year, he allowed four runs in 4 1-3 innings at Pittsburgh.
APRIL
Wacha is 7-2 with a 2.60 ERA in 12 career April starts, his most victories of any month. He’s 3-0 against the Brewers.
TOUGH MATCHUP
Jungmann faced 15 hitters and gave up eight runs and eight hits, seven for extra bases, in two-plus innings. The right-hander is 0-2 against St. Louis, allowing 14 runs and 14 hits in seven innings.
NICE GLOVE
Hazelbaker made a diving catch in the left-center gap to rob Carter of extra bases in the second.
BIG HOUSE
Attendance of 47,608 in 57-degree weather trails only a crowd of 47,875 for opening day last season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: SS Jhonny Peralta (left thumb) has improved and is wearing a splint instead of a cast, and has been rehabbing in St. Louis. He’s still likely out a few more months.
UP NEXT
Both teams have a day off Tuesday. On Wednesday night, Mike Leake (0-1, 8.31) opposes Chase Anderson (1-0, 0.00). Leake didn’t get out of the fifth his first start with St. Louis and Anderson worked five scoreless innings in his first start with Milwaukee.
