ST. LOUIS _ Jack Flaherty's first opening-game start for the Cardinals was something to see Friday night except, of course, that there were no paying customers in Busch Stadium.
The 24-year-old ace extended his career-high streak of scoreless innings to 25, dating to last season, when he shackled the Pittsburgh Pirates for the first six innings, allowing just two singles and walking no one.
But the Pirates strung together four singles in the seventh, two of them on the infield. The final one was a two-out, two-run single to right by Jacob Stallings to bring the Pirates to within 3-2.
Tyler O'Neill and Dexter Fowler already had hit solo homers off Pittsburgh starter Joe Musgrove before Paul DeJong's two-run homer into the Pirates' bullpen following Paul Goldschmidt's infield single in the eighth appeared to wrap it up. DeJong, who had five homers in the exhibition season, connected off Richard Rodriguez.
But an error by third baseman Tommy Edman, a double by Colin Moran off Kwang Hyun Kim and a two-run single by Jose Ozuna cut the lead to 5-4 with nobody out in the ninth. But after a fly out, a nifty double play started by second baseman Kolten Wong and pivoted by shortstop DeJong nailed down Kim's first save in his major league debut after he had spent 13 seasons in Korea.
Flaherty fanned six and walked no one in seven innings. Ryan Helsley had a perfect eighth.
The Cardinals' other run scored in the sixth when Yadier Molina looped a two-out single to left to score Goldschmidt, who had led off the inning with a single.
