Cardinals send Marlins to ninth straight loss to open season

Steven Matz threw five scoreless innings as the host St. Louis Cardinals defeated the winless Miami Marlins 3-1 Saturday.

The Cardinals won for the fourth time in five games while the injury-depleted Marlins fell to 0-9.

Matz (1-0) allowed four hits and a walk while striking out three batters. Ryan Helsley closed out the game to earn his third save.

Marlins starting pitcher Taylor Rogers (0-1) allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks.

Both pitchers started well. Matz retired the first six batters he faced while Rogers held the Cardinals hitless until the third inning.

Avisail Garcia hit a leadoff single for the Marlins in the third inning and Emmanuel Rivera walked. But Nick Fortes bunted into a forceout and Luis Arraez hit into a double play.

In the bottom of the inning, Brendan Donovan hit a two-out double down the left field line and Paul Goldschmidt walked. But Rogers retired Nolan Arenado on a flyout to strand them.

Matz escaped another jam in the fourth inning. He allowed Josh Bell's leadoff single and Bryan De La Cruz's one-out single, then he struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr. and coaxed Tim Anderson's groundout.

St. Louis took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. Ivan Herrera singled to lead off, Nolan Gorman walked, Jordan Walker laced an RBI double, and Walker scored on Rogers' errant pickoff throw.

The Cardinals made it 3-0 in the fifth inning. Donovan hit a leadoff double, moved up on a groundout and scored on Herrera's infield single.

St. Louis loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning before Bryan Hoeing got Goldschmidt to hit into an inning-ending groundout.

The Marlins cut their deficit to 3-1 in the eighth inning off reliever Andrew Kittredge. Arraez doubled and scored on Bell's single.