Carlos Beltran, Adam Wainwright and The St. Louis Cardinals led the team to an easy win in the kick off of the National League Division Finals. Beltran’s three-run homer sparked a seven-run third inning and the Cardinals opened their NL division series with a 9-1 rout of the Pirates.
The sellout crowd at Busch Stadium roared and then settled in for an easy victory by the NL Central champions, making their third consecutive trip to the postseason.
After a record 20 straight losing seasons, the Pirates are back in the playoffs for the first time since 1992. They entered their first best-of-five division series with plenty of momentum after beating Cincinnati in the wild-card game Tuesday, but Pittsburgh never threatened to rally against Wainwright and finished with only four hits.
Game 2 takes place this afternoon in St. Louis.
Information from Espn.com contributed to this report.