From Waino’s singing to key injury, Cardinals 2023 season opener loaded with intrigue

Any one of the dozen or so offramps the Cardinals season opener Thursday could have taken to its conclusion would, on their own, have made for a perfectly logical telling of the game.

That all of them happened simultaneously made the 3 hour, 38 minute affair — so much for that pace of game — feel like multiversal baseball, dropped at the start of a turning point season in franchise identity.

It was everything baseball, all at once, but scarcely worthy of winning many awards.

In a 10-9 Toronto victory, the two teams combined to drum out 34 hits — 19 for the visitors, 15 for the Cardinals. Of those 19 Blue Jays hits, eight had an exit velocity of 80 miles per hour or under, qualifying as soft contact. But, they found holes, were hit where they ain’t and left three Cardinals pitchers responsible for at least two earned runs apiece.

“I don’t think I can remember a game where I had four or five ground balls and didn’t record an out on any of them,” Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas said. After getting through just 3 1/3 innings with five runs and 10 hits allowed, Mikolas still found himself with six strikeouts and the odd feeling of having pitched well but getting rocked all the same.

Mikolas, at least, escaped physically unscathed. The same could not be said for headline offseason acquisition Willson Contreras, who absorbed the full freight of a 102 MPH sinker from Jordan Hicks off his right knee and had to leave the game in the eighth inning.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said X-rays on Contreras’s knee came back negative, but that he would go for additional scans before the club was able to offer a more clear diagnosis than the provided “right knee contusion.” Contreras, undergoing treatment, was not available for comment after the game.

Before the lengthy game unfolded, the traditional lengthy pregame ceremony was capped by a stunning surprise appearance of injured starter Adam Wainwright at the microphone, singing the national anthem. Wainwright, who has recorded and is preparing to release an album of country-western music, was accompanied by songwriting partners Gary Baker and Greg Barnhill on guitar.

Wainwright credited the idea to Cardinals manager of player communications Melody Yount, who asked him while the team was still in Florida if he’d be willing to sing on opening day.

“I said no,” Wainwright recalled. “She said, ‘OK, I’m going to give you a few minutes to think about it.’”

“And then I called her back 10 minutes later.”

Teammate Jordan Montgomery — next to Wainwright in introduction order — was craning his neck back toward home plate during the Canadian national anthem in an attempt to see who was next up to sing. Wainwright explained that Baker and Barnhill were talented friends, and then he stepped out of line.

More on Waino’s singing, milestone homer for O’Neill

The shock on his teammates’ faces was palpable; as far as Wainwright is aware, outside of his family, only Baker, Barnhill and Yount knew before Thursday he would make his stadium singing debut. Word evidently got around just before the performance, as president of baseball operations John Mozeliak pulled him in close during introductions to wish him good luck.

The roar from the crowd when the surprise dawned on those in attendance was the loudest of the day, but the turning points in the game which turned to ash in its final box score rivaled that energy.

Tyler O’Neill’s third inning home run marked the fourth consecutive opening day on which he’s homered, tying a Major League record previously held by Yogi Berra, Gary Carter, and Todd Hundley. Brendan Donovan and Lars Nootbaar each reached base safely three times from the first and second spots in the order respectively, and Paul Goldschmidt matched that feat just behind them.

Success on offense

Jordan Walker smashed the second pitch he saw in his big league career back through the box for his first career hit in his first career at bat, and his bases loaded ground out in the seventh inning gave the Cardinals a lead they would lose, and then regain, and then lose again.

Four Cardinals in total reached base at least three times, and none of the four was Nolan Arenado, who also contributed three RBI.

Through all of it and the cleared smoke, the relevant pillars of Thursday’s action were the success of the offense and held breath around Contreras’s right knee. Another ailing Cardinal, reliever Giovanny Gallegos, was unavailable with minor back tightness, but Gallegos said he expected to be ready to pitch after Friday’s off day.

Big picture lens

Thursday’s game played to one of its many simultaneous scripts, and when filtering out the bad luck base hits, there’s a picture of success at the core of the action.

Still, poor exit velocity hits count. The Blue Jays had placement on their side, ran the bases well, and seized their available opportunities. Play out 162 games of this style from the Cardinals, and they’re likely to win far more often than they lose.

Thursday, they lost. That might be the thing that ends up remembered least.