The St. Louis Cardinals aren’t counting on one single player to replace Albert Pujols.

And when four different players hit home runs off Yovani Gallardo, it certainly looks like a team-wide approach to making up for Pujols’ departure just might work for the defending champions.

David Freese hit a two-run drive and Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday hit solo shots off Gallardo, helping the Cardinals spoil the Milwaukee Brewers’ opener with an 11-5 victory on Friday.

“That’s where we’re going to have to be able to overcome the loss of Albert, is finding ways to score runs, tack on runs,” Holliday said. “You get the big four-spot, but we kept scoring.”

Gallardo (0-1) struggled with his control from the start and lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and six runs with five walks and three strikeouts.

“I think he would tell you he probably didn’t have his best stuff today,” Holliday said. “We got his pitch count up and got him in some hitters’ counts. He’ll be good. I just don’t think he had a good day.”

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke gave Gallardo the opening-day start ahead of Zack Greinke, despite Gallardo’s career 1-7 record against the Cardinals with a 5.66 ERA coming into Friday’s game.

Holliday wasn’t sure why the Cardinals play so well against one of the two Brewers aces they’ll face in the series.

“I don’t know if that’s one of those things that you can really put a finger on,” Holliday said. “I don’t think there’s one particular thing. He’s a great pitcher, so I don’t see why it would be like that.”

Jaime Garcia (1-0) pitched six solid innings for St. Louis, yielding two runs — both in the first inning — and five hits.

“Our offense is unbelievable,” Garcia said. “The guys are doing an amazing job. So when you give up two runs and your offense comes back and scores four, you feel like you want to be there for your team.”

Ryan Braun was 0 for 5 and new Brewers cleanup hitter Aramis Ramirez was 0 for 4.

“Braun hit a couple balls hard, so you don’t discount that,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “He looks like his timing is pretty good. They’ve got guys that are going to hit the ball.”

The Cardinals are in Milwaukee for a three-game series after opening with a victory over the Marlins in Miami on Wednesday night, and so far they’re making the most of a somewhat disjointed start to the season.

“They kind of gave us an unfavorable schedule for a team that just won the World Series, but to get a couple wins already, it’s good,” Holliday said.

Brewers fans gave a rousing reception to Braun, both before the game and the first few times he stepped to the plate. It was a show of support for the NL MVP, whose potential 50-game suspension for a positive drug test was overturned by an arbitrator before spring training.

Braun said before the game he hoped to show fans he can handle the offseason controversy and return to his MVP form after struggling in spring training.

With the Cardinals trailing 2-0 after the first inning, Molina smashed a pitch into the right-field bullpen to start the second.

Things got worse from there.

Gallardo gave up back-to-back shots to Beltran and Holliday to start the third. Gallardo then walked Lance Berkman and gave up his third homer of the inning to Freese.

After walking Molina, Gallardo finally got three straight outs.

Roenicke lifted Gallardo after he allowed an RBI single to Freese that put the Cardinals up 6-2. Marco Estrada got the final out of the inning.

“They’re tough,” Gallardo said. “They have good hitters up and down their lineup. They do it all. They have everything — they hit for power and average. They take advantage of mistakes. The balls I left up in the zone today, they took advantage of.”

Milwaukee had runners on first and third with one out in the fifth, but Jonathan Lucroy was called for interference when he ran into Cardinals second baseman Daniel Descalso while Descalso was trying to field a grounder. Carlos Gomez flied out to end the inning.

Things started out well for the Brewers, who grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first. But they didn’t score again until pinch hitter George Kottaras connected for a three-run homer in the ninth.

— Associated Press —

The sellout crowd in the Miami Marlins’ new ballpark cheered the introduction of their starters, who were accompanied by women dressed as Latin showgirls. There was another roar for Muhammad Ali, who delivered the first pitch.

Then Kyle Lohse and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals went to work, and the place grew quiet.

Lohse held Miami hitless until the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth to help the Cardinals win the first game in Marlins Park, 4-1, on Wednesday night.

The Marlins’ new animated home-run sculpture never budged. It was the fourth inning before they even managed a baserunner, and by the time they scored in the eighth, they trailed 4-0.

“It’s a good ballpark for a pitcher, obviously,” Lohse said. “It’s pretty hard to get it out.”

New Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen was asked if the team’s new home is a pitcher’s park.

“For Lohse, yes,” Guillen said. “But it’s too early to say how the ballpark is going to play.”

The crowd of 36,601 included newly retired Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who quietly rooted for his former team from the press box.

He watched Lohse retire the first 10 batters before hitting Emilio Bonifacio with a pitch. The runner was erased when Hanley Ramirez grounded into a double play.

Newcomer Jose Reyes singled for Miami’s first hit to start the seventh, and Omar Infante scored the Marlins’ run in the eighth on John Buck’s double. Lohse went 7 1/3 innings, allowing only two hits and one run.

The right-hander led the Cardinals last year in victories and ERA but got the call for opening day only because ace Chris Carpenter is sidelined with nerve irritation that has caused weakness in his pitching shoulder.

David Freese, the World Series MVP, had a two-run single in the first inning to give Lohse the cushion he needed. Freese and Rafael Furcal each had three of the Cardinals’ 13 hits.

“Tonight was fun,” Freese said. “It’s always nice to get the season going and to open up here, beautiful ballpark, the fans were excited about it and so were we.”

Jason Motte earned the save with a one-hit ninth, completing the four-hitter and sending the Cardinals to the clubhouse to celebrate first-year manager Mike Matheny’s debut win.

“We gave him a little water shower,” Lohse said. “Most people go with the adult beverage but we went with the water.”

Things were so bad for Guillen’s team that Marlins ace Josh Johnson recorded the ballpark’s first strikeout — as a hitter.

Johnson allowed 10 hits and three runs in six innings. The 2010 NL ERA leader was pitching for the first time since last May 16, when shoulder inflammation ended his year.

Ramirez, making the switch to third base from shortstop, had an especially rough night. He drew scattered boos when he pulled up rather than dive for a grounder to his left, and he failed to throw out Furcal on a bunt that went for a hit. Ramirez also struck out with a runner aboard in the ninth to finish 0 for 4.

Both teams began the season with a new look. The Marlins, anticipating better attendance and higher revenue in their new home, acquired three All-Stars in an offseason spending spree. The Cardinals, coming off a thrilling late-season charge to the World Series title, lost slugger Albert Pujols to free agency and La Russa to retirement.

La Russa visited with Matheny before the game. Also on hand was baseball commissioner Bud Selig, who said his reaction to the ballpark was, “Wow.”

Among the eye-catching features is the colorful home-run sculpture beyond the center-field wall, but the Marlins failed to activate it, although Giancarlo Stanton did send two flies to the warning track.

The retractable roof, which is expected to be closed for all but about 10 games, was opened 30 minutes before the first pitch, revealing a nearly full moon on a 79-degree evening. Surprise guest Ali delivered the first pitch, which Ramirez gently took from the champ’s hand.

The first pitch from Johnson to Rafael Furcal caught the outside corner for a called strike. Furcal then grounded to new shortstop Reyes for the first out.

Cardinals newcomer Carlos Beltran followed with the first hit, a sharp single to right. He took third on a double by Lance Berkman, and Freese drove in both runs with a two-out single.

Furcal’s two-out RBI single in the second made it 3-0, and a 50-foot groundout by Daniel Descalso brought home an insurance run in the eighth.

— Associated Press —