Nootbaar trucks Cards to victory after pregame mix-up

ST. LOUIS -- A former standout high school quarterback who dreamed years ago of starring someday at the University of Southern California, outfielder Lars Nootbaar was forced to think quickly and call an audible before his Cardinals faced the Twins on Opening Day at Busch Stadium.

While taking part in the traditional vehicle caravan of Cardinals players circling the Busch Stadium warning track on Opening Day, Nootbaar claims he was “misdirected” into a grouping with the relief pitchers -- instead of being the leadoff hitter in the starting lineup -- and he had to hurry to fix the situation. Nootbaar nervously jumped out of the truck he was riding in -- as reliever Phil Maton was being introduced and before Ryan Fernandez had his name called -- and jumped into the trailing truck where he was supposed to be all along.

As it turns out, it was the talented outfielder’s only faux pas of an otherwise brilliant Opening Day for him and the Cardinals.

Nootbaar scorched a 109.8 mph single in the first inning and hit a two-run homer in the second off Twins ace Pablo López, and the Cardinals got a strong start from Sonny Gray in a 5-3 victory over Minnesota before a sellout crowd Thursday at Busch Stadium.

When the long day -- one that included a 98-minute rain delay -- ended, Nootbaar cleared up the truck mix-up and was proud of how he reacted quickly with 47,395 fans at Busch Stadium looking on while he was in the wrong vehicle. After potentially starting the season on the wrong foot, Nootbaar saved himself the embarrassment of being out of order with some quick thinking.

“I was in the wrong truck, but I got misdirected and I knew it and I should have said something. If you see something, say something -- and I didn’t say something,” Nootbaar said playfully. “I was in there with Ryan Fernandez and Maton -- good company, but not where I was supposed to be. I couldn’t even enjoy riding around because I was thinking the whole time, ‘How am I going to get myself out of this mess?’

“[Getting back into the right truck] was that quarterback in me, audibling at the line and kind of making a play out of nothing there.”

Nootbaar’s quick thinking in the pregame festivities proved to be prophetic for what was to come later. The sweet-swinging outfielder, who is hoping for an injury-free season after five stints on the injured list in the previous two years, showed off his massive potential with the first two baseballs he hit on the day.

Nootbaar opened the first inning by ripping the single through the right side, and he scored two batters later following a balk and a single by Brendan Donovan. In the second inning, Nootbaar went below the strike zone for a changeup from López and drove it into the right-field seats for a 3-0 lead.

Nootbaar, who led all of baseball with the lowest chase rate outside of the strike zone (16.9%) in 2024, per Baseball Savant, wasn’t happy with himself for swinging at so many pitches out of the zone on Thursday. However, he said the homer was just a product of him being aggressive.

“I was just looking for that [changeup], knowing he has that in his back pocket. I didn’t want to spin off on a heater late and then not be able to get to that [changeup], so I had to stay in there. He’s a great pitcher, and sometimes you just make a good swing and get good contact.”

Said López of Nootbaar: “[The changeup] is one of my best pitches, especially to lefties. You look at the at-bat, he swung through pretty much the same pitch two pitches before that. I tried to go back to it, and he made a really good adjustment. They say big leaguers make adjustments pitch to pitch instead of at-bat to at-bat, and he was one step ahead of me.”

Nolan Arenado, the subject of trade rumors all offseason, also homered. He went deep in the eighth inning to get a roaring ovation and a curtain call from the crowd. As happy as Arenado was about his homer, he took nearly as much delight in the second-inning smash by Nootbaar, his best friend on the team.

“If he stays healthy, he’s got a chance to do some really special things,” Arenado said of Nootbaar. “He’s my boy, and I always support him and talk well about him, but I see something really good coming from him. I really think he can do it if he stays healthy. He’s got a great eye, he has power and I think he can do some special things.”