Cardinals cruise past Pirates behind 38-year-olds Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina

The St. Louis Cardinals turned to the tried and true Saturday afternoon with Adam Wainwright on the mound and Yadier Molina behind the plate, a battery with a combined three decades in the majors.

The 38-year-old pitcher and catcher combined to keep the Pittsburgh Pirates in check as the Cardinals cruised to a 9-1 victory at Busch Stadium.

“To share the same field with them is an honor,” said Pirates right-hander Trevor Williams, who took the loss. “They’re good players. It’s always fun competing against them. They have a lot of history here in St. Louis. Every time I get an opportunity to compete against them is something that I cherish.”

Wainwright was solid in the 317th career start of his 15th season with the Cardinals. The 6-foot-7 right-hander relied on his cutter and finished with five strikeouts in holding the Pirates to three hits in six innings. He allowed his only run on a one-out, bases-loaded walk in the second inning before getting out of the jam.

Molina made history Friday night with his 16th consecutive start on Opening Day, passing Bill Dickey of the New York Yankees for the MLB record for most consecutive behind the plate, but that didn’t stop him from starting a day game. The nine-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove winner went 1 for 4 and scored a run.

“It’s crazy. I think it’s a testament to both those guys,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton, a former catcher who coached Molina’s brother, Jose, in Tampa Bay. “The bloodlines or whatever is in the water in that city in Puerto Rico, we need to bottle it up and give it to catchers. This guy’s probably one of the best catchers ever to play. It’s obvious with the number of games he catches and the number of Gold Gloves he’s won.”

“The fact that they’ve been together for so long … you know Yadi has a really good feel for what he’s doing with Adam and how he’s able to to sequence the game. When you have that much history with the guy, it provides the opportunity to have a lot of trust in the execution of pitches.”

The Cardinals got a cushion in the first, when Paul Goldschmidt drove Williams’ high four-seamer to the left-field seats, a 381-foot shot with a 104 mph exit velocity for a 1-0 lead. The Pirates tied it in the second, when their first three batters loaded the bases and Wainwright walked John Ryan Murphy to tie it 1-1. Wainwright recovered to get Cole Tucker to pop out and Kevin Newman to ground out to end the inning without more damage.

“This guy’s been pitching for a long time, and he’s been able to execute pitches and change his stuff throughout his career,” Shelton said of Wainwright, who didn’t allow a hit to the Pirates’ top three batters. “He made some pitches in some big spots. The bases-loaded situation, he threw the cutter in that Tucker chased. When he got into big spots, he made good pitches. That’s what guys who’ve pitched for as long him do. We were probably a hitter away from him being out of the game. ”

The Cardinals scored two runs in the fourth, when Shelton pulled Williams with two outs and runners on second and third. Paul DeJong hit a leadoff single, then took advantage of Tucker playing deep in his first career start in right field by going to third on a shallow pop fly by Molina. That put runners on first and third with one out for Dexter Fowler, who drove in DeJong for a 2-1 lead. Tyler O’Neill’s single to left scored Molina to make it 3-1.

Williams threw only 67 pitches, allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts and a walk, but Shelton didn’t like the amount of traffic on the basepaths. Chris Stratton replaced Williams and got Kolten Wong to end the inning.

The Cardinals added two runs in the seventh off Kyle Crick, who had two strikeouts but loaded the bases by mishandling a pair of dribblers back to the mound. DeJong’s two-run single gave St. Louis a 5-1 lead.

Robbie Erlin replaced Crick but promptly gave up a two-run double to Matt Carpenter to right-center, where Tucker misplayed the ball at the warning track while trying to avoid crashing into the wall. The Cardinals added two more runs in the eighth on Tommy Edman’s triple off Erlin to the left-field wall for a 9-1 lead.

Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller is scheduled to start against Cardinals righty Dakota Hudson at 2:15 p.m. Sunday. Shelton said lefty Steven Brault will start the home opener Monday night, when the Pirates face the Milwaukee Brewers at PNC Park.