Tony and Albert who? The St. Louis Cardinals' first game in the post-Pujols, post-La Russa era went just about as well anyone could've hoped, as they jumped out to an early lead on the Miami Marlins and never looked back. World Series hero David Freese gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a single off of Marlins starter Josh Johnson and eventually held on to take home a 4-1 victory.
The Cardinals pounded out 13 hits, including ten off of Marlins Johnson, but the story of the night was the outing from starer Kyle Lohse, who took a no hitter into the seventh inning (which was broken up by new Marlin Jose Reyes) and finished allowing only an earned run in 7.1 innings to go along with two hits and three strikeouts.
Closer Jason Motte finished the Marlins off in impressive fashion, inducing a groundout from Emilio Bonifacio and striking out Hanley Ramirez and Giancarlo Stanton after allowing a single to Reyes to open the innning.
The Cardinals will take Thursday off as they travel up north to visit the Milwaukee Brewers, where they'll begin a three-game set on Friday night.
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