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Cardinals pitcher Kyle Gibson’s performance on Sunday left his team a fighting chance to win games in the coming days. Yet it didn’t sit well with him because he gave them very little chance to actually win on Sunday.

After all, wearing a seven-run deficit well is not a distinction any pitcher covets. That’s the situation Gibson found himself in after he gave up a six-run first inning that included a pair of three-run home runs followed by another run in the second inning.

In the long run, Gibson going deep into the game might prove meaningful to Gibson’s teammates and the coaching staff because Gibson saved manager Oliver Marmol from having to deplete his relief corps. None of that was going through Gibson’s mind when he had his moment of “frustration� in the tunnel after he yielded the big first inning to the Miami Marlins.

Gibson pressed on and made it through six innings — he asked Marmol to let him take the mound for the seventh — in the Cardinals’ 10-3 loss in front of an announced crowd of 39,519 at Busch Stadium for the finale of the home-opening three-game series.

The loss marked the first at home this season for the Cardinals (5-5), who had the chance to secure their first series sweep of the season.

“What he did was incredibly important,� Marmol said. “When you have an outing like that, and you’re going to have them — it won’t be the last one that somebody has this year where it goes south early — your ability to not let it impact that next day is huge.

“For him to give up six in the first and give up another one in the second and still give us six innings, that’s a pro. That was really, really good because it allows us to use (only two relievers) and be fresh for tomorrow.�

The Cardinals begin a three-game series with Philadelphia on Monday night at Busch Stadium. The ace pitcher they acquired this offseason, Sonny Gray, will make his first start on Tuesday in that series against the Phillies, though he’ll be limited to roughly 60-70 pitches.

The bullpen figures to play a prominent part in the upcoming series, particularly with Gray operating with a truncated pitch count.

“It’s never good when your team doesn’t have a chance after the first inning,� Gibson said. “So I felt like I executed a lot of pitches late in the game, but I’ve been told you obviously can’t win the game in the first but you can lose it in the first. Unfortunately, I just didn’t give the team a chance to win.

“So getting through six, sure. But you want to be competitive all six innings.�

Meanwhile, the Marlins weren’t concerned with Gray or the Cardinals’ upcoming series. They desperately were chasing their first win of the season.

Managed by former Cardinals player and coach Skip Schumaker, the Marlins snapped a nine-game losing streak to start the season. That had been the longest slide to start a season in franchise history.

Gibson hadn’t allowed six first-inning runs since 2022, when he gave up a big inning as the starting pitcher for the Phillies against the Cardinals. He allowed four consecutive first-inning home runs to the Cardinals as part of a six-run inning at Citizens Bank Park. The only other time Gibson allowed six runs or more in the first inning came in 2014.

The Cardinals hadn’t allowed six runs or more in the first inning of a home game since July 24, 2016, when the Los Angeles Dodgers scored six in pitcher Mike Mayers’ major league debut.

On Sunday, Gibson (1-1) allowed the first two batters in the game to reach, on a leadoff line-drive single by defending National League batting champion Luis Arraez followed by a five-pitch walk by Josh Bell. Gibson then struck out slugging ºüÀêÊÓƵ native Jake Burger in a matchup of former University of Missouri and Missouri State standouts.

With one out, Gibson gave up a first-pitch home run on an elevated cutter on the inner half of the plate to center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. The three-run blast to right field traveled an estimated 412 feet.

Gibson retired the next batter, Jesus Sanchez, but Tim Anderson and Bryan De La Cruz swatted back-to-back singles and set the stage for Nick Gordon.

The left-handed hitter belted a knee-high curveball over the inner third of the plate into the right field stands as the Marlins grabbed a six-run advantage before a Cardinals player even stepped into the batter’s box.

“When I get in, I go down to the tunnel and have my frustration moment,� Gibson said. “Then come back and start getting ready for the next inning. It wasn’t a fresh start because we were down 6-0, but I had the leadoff hitter up and tried to go back after the lineup and see how deep you can get into the game.�

Arraez tripled and scored on a grounder to first in the second inning, but Gibson didn’t allow another run for the rest of his outing. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.

Marlins starting pitcher, rookie right-hander Max Meyer, sat down 13 consecutive Cardinals to start the game before Nolan Gorman smacked a 3-2 pitch 400 feet to center field for a solo home run — the first of two homers in the game for Gorman.

Chisholm, the Marlins’ center fielder, made a leaping effort to catch Gorman’s first blast. Chisholm initially had the ball in his glove as he reached over the wall, but he couldn’t hold on as his body hit the wall and jarred the ball loose.

The Marlins added their final three runs (two earned) against Cardinals rookie right-hander Ryan Fernandez. A throwing error by Masyn Winn in the eighth inning marked the first error committed by the Cardinals this season. They entered the day as the last team remaining in the majors that hadn’t committed an error.

Following a 46-minute rain delay in the middle of the ninth inning, Michael Siani roped a triple into the left field corner in his lone at-bat of the game. Gorman’s second home run of the day, a two-run blast that went 420 feet to center field, gave the Cardinals their second and third runs.

“That’s kind of the hard part of watching the game afterwards,� Gibson said. “You see the offense come alive there late and score runs late. You know that if I had been able to just limit that to just one of those homers in the first inning, obviously that changes the outlook of the game and that gives them a chance late.�