In his previous home start against an eager opponent, Cardinals starter Sonny Gray appreciated — in the way a poker player appreciates a good bluff — why the Pittsburgh Pirates would try that approach on him, even as he turned it against them.

They bit on his early pitches, and he used that aggressiveness to spin seven innings and allow one earned run to the Bucs.

“Guys are not up there looking to walk,” Gray said later. “They’re looking to swing and looking to swing early because I think for them ... (they) don’t want to get to two strikes. So go ahead and swing. Which is fair. Makes sense. I get it.”

He got even more of it Monday.

The major league club that’s most eager to ambush early pitches did so often Labor Day afternoon at Busch Stadium against the Cardinals right-hander. The A

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