ST. LOUIS — A clubhouse that bounded out of spring training convinced it knew more about its ability than any pundit, press clipping or public promotion of lower expectations did not keep the reasons for such enthusiasm to itself for long.

The St. Louis Cardinals punctuated a decisive, season-opening sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a rollicking 9-2 victory Sunday at Busch Stadium.

By the time Steven Matz recorded the final out of the series finale, almost every corner of the Cardinals roster had contributed in some way to the sweep. Pedro Pages and Nolan Gorman came off the bench to start Sunday’s game, and each had three hits and a home run on the way to the emphatic rout of the Twins. Pages and center fielder Victor Scott II each hit three-run homers as the Cardinals wrenched a minimal lead away from the Twins early and ran away from there.

The Cardinals got three starts of at least five innings and production throughout the lineup, and the bullpen allowed only one run in 11 innings throughout the series.

The Cardinals’ vacuum-sealed defense took over in the ninth inning to secure Matz’s first career save — earned by pitching the four scoreless innings after a 58-minute rain delay.

All spring, they preached how it would take all of them to compete.

All weekend, the Cardinals showed how.

The Cardinals swept a series to open the regular season for the first time since 2006, when they went to Philadelphia and began a championship summer with a 3-0 visit. This is the first time the Cardinals began a season with a sweep in the season opener at Busch Stadium III.

Their previous start at home with a sweep was 2003.

This is the 17th time the Cardinals have started 3-0 in 134 National League seasons.

The Twins pulled a Cardinals on Sunday with a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Matt Wallner worked his way back from 0-2 to take a walk from starter Andre Pallante, and a bloop single to left eventually brought Wallner home.

The Cardinals scored the game’s next eight runs. They vaporized the Twins' lead in the span of five pitches from starter Bailey Ober in the second inning. Gorman singled, Pages doubled and then, on the next pitch after the double, Scott homered.

The Cardinals piled on in the third by getting five runners on base and all of them scoring before Ober was able to get his first out of the inning. Pages’ homer did most of the heavy lifting but did not bounce Ober from his start.

It would take the Twins right-hander 77 pitches to get six outs.

Pallante (1-0) had nine outs on his first 48 pitches — and only a rain delay could slow his push toward a quality start. The forecast storm arrived in the middle of the fifth inning, just after Pallante got his 15th and final out on his 78th and final pitch. The right-hander allowed a solo homer in the fourth on an 0-2 pitch for the only other welt on his line.

Off the bench, out of the park

A catcher yet to start and an infielder yet to appear in any game did not take long to join their teammates in the opening weekend deluge of offense.

By the time the rain cleared, Pages and Gorman each had a home run.

In his first appearance of the season, Gorman singled in his first two at-bats and scored each time. In the third inning, he singled ahead of Pages’ three-run homer.

Coming out of spring training, arguably no player saw his potential playing time pinched more than Gorman. Had the Cardinals traded Nolan Arenado, Gorman would be the everyday third baseman. The Cardinals eyed second base as Gorman’s position for playing time, but Scott won the starting job in center and shifted Brendan Donovan to the infield.

“How that’s going to affect Gorman?” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said last weekend. “Clearly we’re going to have to find a way to balance that, try to make sure we give him that runway.”

Sunday offered a peek, and Gorman responded with production.

Against right-hander Ober, Jordan Walker got a break, and that allowed Donovan to move out to left field and open second for Gorman. The left-handed hitter singled in his first look at Ober and in his second at-bat singled to left. He was on base for both of the Cardinals’ three-run homers.

Pages was involved in both as well.

Manager Oliver Marmol has declined to guesstimate a playing time split at catcher between Pages and Ivan Herrera because, as he said Saturday, he “does not know.” There is no script.

Herrera is a standout offensive player, and Pages has been his defensive replacement for late innings in each of the first two games. Marmol cautioned reporters not to underestimate what Pages could contribute offensively, and he did just that in his first start. Pages laced a line drive that hopped into the seats for a rule-book double and lofted his home run in back-to-back innings.

Greater Scott

A day after he had his first two-steal game in the majors and talked about his job as a “hit collector,” outfielder Scott flashed the third dimension to his game. Scott pounced on a first-pitch fastball from Ober and drove it 396 feet into the home bullpen beyond the right field wall.

In spring training, Scott tied for the team lead with four home runs, and he’s unlocked that side of his game with a less static mechanic at the plate.

“Be an athlete,” he said in spring.

The result is a more fluid look at the plate — one that embraces movement as he coils, toe taps and then springs forward into his swing. That’s what he did in the second inning when Ober, already dealing with two runners on base and no outs, left an 89.7 mph fastball over the plate. Scott hammered it for his first home run of the season and his fifth since reporting to spring training intent on winning a starting job that already had an incumbent.

Credit that as his first steal of the season.

He’s already up to three stolen bases in the season.

Matz into the mix

The only fixed date on lefty Matz’s schedule is April 16, when, according to the schedule, he tags in to join the rotation as its sixth man. Until then, there isn’t a schedule or designated days that he has to pitch to remain stretched and ready for that start. Matz threw a bullpen session Saturday just to remain sharp, and he said he would adjust if needed for long relief in that game.

He was only off by a day.

When Sunday’s game resumed after the delay, Matz took over for the final four innings — an ideal assignment to keep his stamina and feel going. Matz continued what began with his strong spring and retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced. He struck out two of them, and only two of the first 10 got the ball out of the infield.

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