JUPITER, Fla. (AP) _ Neither Chad Hutchinson nor St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa were making too big of a deal of the rookie's impressive three-inning stint in a 2-1 win over the Montreal Expos.

Hutchinson, the team's second-round pick in the 1998 amateur draft, allowed only a broken-bat single by Orlando Cabrera in the third inning Sunday. He struck out three and walked two, and catcher Eli Marrero helped by throwing out both runners attempting to steal.

La Russa said Hutchinson, 23, a former quarterback at Stanford, has a chance to make the team in long relief. The rotation is deep with offseason acquisitions Pat Hentgen, Darryl Kile and Andy Benes joining 18-game winner Kent Bottenfield.

``He's got his work cut out for him,'' La Russa said. ``But he's got a chance to be one of the 11. That's more important.''

Hutchinson said that was nice to hear.

``That would be outstanding,'' he said. ``I've got to pitch better than I did today. I guess the results were fine, but I'm looking for other things and I hope I can build on that.''

Hutchinson was a little wild, and it helped keep Expos hitters off-balance.

``Once I started settling down and hitting some spots, they weren't digging in too deep,'' Hutchinson said. ``I'd rather not be that wild, but I guess if I can get out of the big situations that's all right.''

New Cardinals closer Dave Veres, who had 31 saves for the Rockies last year, made his debut in the fourth inning. He pretended not to notice.

``You go out there thinking it's the ninth with a one-run lead,'' Veres said. ``That's what I told myself, it's not the fourth it's the ninth. I should have said it in the fifth, too.''

Jose Vidro hit Veres' first pitch for a line-drive single and Rondell White lined out sharply to left before Veres got Vladimir Guerrero to ground into a double play. The Expos got their only run in the fifth when Brad Fullmer and Michael Barrett singled and Charlie O'Brien hit a sacrifice fly.

``I probably ran out of gas a little bit in the second inning,'' Veres said. ``I could just tell I was a little weak.''

The Cardinals got the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Larry Sutton, who replaced Mark McGwire at first base after three innings, in the sixth.

Expos starter Dustin Herman also worked three innings. He retired the Cardinals in order the first two innings with the help of a lineout double play on McGwire in the first. The Cardinals scored a run on three singles, with Edgar Renteria getting the RBI, in the third.

The game was the second of seven meetings between the teams, which share Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals won 17-15 Saturday.