We performed a propensity score-matching comparison of the midterm clinical and angiographic outcomes after primary stenting between using bare-metal stents (BMSs) and sirolimus-eluting stent (SES; Cypher Bx Velocity) for ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI), because, in the drug-eluting stent era, the indication of the BMSs when a large balloon diameter is required remained to be controversial. This was a single-center, nonrandomized, retrospective study investigated in October 2013 by enrolling STEMI patients treated with primary stenting using either SES (n = 468) or BMS (n = 171) between September 2004 and December 2011. In 204 patients, the baseline-adjusted values produced similar mean maximum balloon sizes (BMS 3.67 ± 0.47 mm; SES 3.70 ± 0.56 mm; p = 0.477), and the incidence rates of binary in-stent restenosis (% diameter stenosis >50 % on secondary angiography) after SES placement (7.8 %) was significantly lower than that after BMS placement (23.5 %; p = 0.002). In baseline-adjusted 300 patients, the incidence of the clinical endpoints comprising cardiac death, nonfatal recurrent MI, and definite stent thrombosis after SES placement (11.3 %; 1241 ± 786 days; p = 0.557) was not significantly different from after BMS placement (8.7 %; mean follow-up period, 549 ± 486 days; p = 0.557). SES was not significantly related to the clinical endpoint [hazard ratio 2.31; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.88–6.08; p = 0.089). BMS did not offset the SES’s angiographic efficacy for primary stenting for STEMI patients, despite placed using a large-sized balloon.