PITTSBURGH -- Chris Archer spun a slider to Harrison Bader, waited for the strike call from Jerry Layne and backpedaled off the mound. He hopped and twisted as he reached the third-base line, then trotted into the dugout for a round of high fives after his second scoreless inning on Monday.

When he came out to pitch the fourth inning of Pittsburgh's 6-5 loss to St. Louis in 11 innings, Archer bounded out of the Pirates’ dugout so quickly that he reached the mound before the grounds crew could hustle to tend to the infield. After his 99th and final pitch, a slider that struck out Paul Goldschmidt, Archer pumped his right fist and slapped his glove as he hopped off the mound.

“I feed off the fans,” Archer said. “I love when they’re here.”

Yes, Archer was feeling up to the energy of the Bucs’ home opener, and he sure did his job before a sold-out crowd of 37,336.

“He was fun to watch. Obviously, he was in it,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “The adrenaline flow always is full on with him.”

Archer struck out eight Cardinals hitters over five scoreless innings to start the Bucs’ first game of the season at PNC Park. He allowed only two hits and walked three batters and threw 60 of his 99 pitches for strikes.

“They’re a good lineup,” Archer said of the Cards. “I feel like we should have won that game, but that’s baseball. Stuff like this is going to happen.”

The Pirates will like their chances if Archer continues to pitch the way he did last September, when he posted a 2.70 ERA in five starts. On Monday, he relied heavily on his slider, as seven of his eight strikeouts came on the pitch. Archer threw 37 sliders on the day, and St. Louis’ hitters swung and missed on 15 of them. Overall, he induced 17 whiffs.

Archer left after five innings with the Bucs up, 4-0. And he finished with a flourish, striking out the final three hitters he faced -- including Goldschmidt on the eighth pitch of his at-bat.

“I had a good idea that it was my last batter that I was going to face -- or my last inning definitely,” Archer said. “I gave it everything I had and kind of expressed that after I threw that last pitch.”

The Pirates expected Archer would channel the anticipation of pitching in front of a big crowd in their home opener, based on his attitude and his experience pitching on Opening Day for the Rays the past four years. Starter Trevor Williams joked that the over/under for Archer’s first yell of the game was 1 1/2 batters.

“I’m taking the under,” Williams said.

He was right. Archer caught St. Louis leadoff man Matt Carpenter looking at a slider, pumped his first and shouted. One batter, one strikeout, one yell.

“He’s 30 years old, but he looks like 20, 18 years old. He’s still a kid,” catcher Francisco Cervelli said. “He enjoys every fifth day when he’s on the mound.”