The Cardinals’ opening day starter Chris Carpenter was particularly sharp in his five innings of work, but he came out in good shape on the scoreboard in a 9-4 win over the Mets.

Chris Carpenter walked six in five innings but only gave up two runs. He had plenty of offensive support as the Cardinals hit three homers off Mets starter Oliver Perez. Ryan Ludwick hit a homer for the third game in a row and Matt Holliday hit his first two homers of the spring, both of them making it to the hitter’s eye in center field. Brendan Ryan hit another home run giving him two this spring.