JUPITER, Fla. (AP) _ Darryl Kile, acquired from Colorado as part of an offseason pitching makeover, will start St. Louis' season opener Monday against the Chicago Cubs.

Kile is 3-0 in five starts this spring going into Tuesday's game against Florida. He's allowed just four runs _ three earned _ and 17 hits in 20 innings.

Pat Hentgen and Garrett Stephenson will follow in the three-game series against the Cubs. Andy Benes, Kile and Rick Ankiel are scheduled to start the weekend series against Milwaukee from April 7-9.

Stephenson, who takes Kent Bottenfield's place in the rotation, survived a shaky start Monday in a 3-3, seven-inning tie with the Montreal Expos. Rain interrupted play for 42 minutes in the sixth inning. Before the game resumed, both managers agreed to stop after seven because of concerns over pitching.

The Cardinals had tied the score in third on Fernando Vina's run-scoring triple and an infield out, then went ahead on a solo home run by Fernando Tatis in the fourth. When play resumed, the Expos' Rondell White tied it at 3 on a single, stolen base and a hit by Lee Stevens.

Jesse Orosco, acquired by the Cardinals from the Mets on March 18, pitched in and out of trouble in the last of the seventh. After Montreal loaded the bases on a hit, an error and a walk, Orosco struck out Trace Coquilette, got Manny Martinez on a short fly to left and Mike Mordecai on an infield out.

After giving up a two-run single to White, Stephenson got out of the first inning on a double-play grounder and a strikeout. He scattered two hits and three walks over the next four innings, striking out three.

``He had control of a lot of counts but just couldn't finish off the hitters,'' pitching coach Dave Duncan said. ``It probably cost him 15-20 pitches. We talked to him about that when he came out. His pitch selection wasn't very good at times, but he has a good fastball, a good curve and a good change-up that he can throw for strikes.''

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa also was critical of Stephenson.

``In the regular season, if he throws 80 pitches the way he did today, that's the difference between going five or six innings or pitching into the seventh or eighth inning,'' he said.

It was Stephenson's second start of the spring, his first since the Bottenfield trade, and his longest outing. He has allowed three earned runs in 20 innings, with 13 hits, eight walks and 14 strikeouts.

Notes: The Expos optioned OF Milton Bradley and INF Fernando Seguignol to Triple-A Ottawa and reassigned RHP Shayne Bradley to their minor league camp. ... Mark McGwire struck out, grounded to second and flied to right.