Two home runs in the second inning were all the St Louis Cardinals needed to win their opening game against the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.

The Rays started the scoring early, with Brandon Lowe hitting a two-run home run with no outs. The Cardinals had threatened in the first inning by loading the bases, only for Nolan Arenado to ground into a double play. The Redbirds were unfazed, as Victor Scott II hit his first home run of the season to tie the game, then Tommy Pham added his own two-run shot to give St Louis the lead. Sonny Gray was lights out after the first inning, striking out six while allowing four hits and a walk in his seven innings of work to earn his 11th win of the season. Ryan Helsley ran into trouble in the ninth, giving up two hits and a walk, including an RBI single to Jonny DeLuca. However, Helsley was able to pick up his 35th save of the season.

St Louis are now 58-56, six games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central and three games behind Atlanta in the wild card chase. Game two of the Cardinals’ series against Tampa Bay is Wednesday, with first pitch at 6:45.