MLB

St. Louis Cardinals at Toronto Blue Jays

· Major League Baseball
St. Louis Cardinals
74-73, 35-38 Away
Final
3 - 4
Toronto Blue Jays
70-78, 36-37 Home

Alejandro Kirk's winning hit in 11th inning pushes Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

After the Cardinals intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to begin the 11th, Leo Jiménez advanced both Guerrero and automatic runner Nathan Lukes with a bunt single.

Will Wagner grounded into a fielder’s choice before Kirk won it with a single to deep left over the drawn-in outfield off right-hander Ryan Fernandez (1-5). It was the first game-winning hit of Kirk’s career.

“You’re back there as a catcher for 11 innings, and you’re grinding,” manager John Schneider said of Kirk. “It’s great for him.”

Erik Swanson (2-2) worked a scoreless inning for the win as Toronto improved to 3-7 in September. The Blue Jays won in their final at bat for the fifth time.

Cardinals rookie infielder Thomas Saggese hit his first career home run, a tying solo shot in the eighth. Saggese got his first hit and first RBI in Thursday’s win over Cincinnati.

“We lost, so I’m kind of more thinking about that, but pretty cool to do it in that moment to tie the game right there," Saggese said.

St. Louis came in 9-3 this season against AL East opponents. The Cardinals haven’t lost a series to an AL East team since losing two of three at Boston in June 2022.

“You don’t deserve to win when you go 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s tough to do it.”

The first four Cardinals batters of the game all had singles off Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman, with Nolan Arenado’s bloop hit to center driving home the game’s first run.

A second run scored on Saggese’s fielder’s choice, but Arenado was forced out at second on a quick throw from right fielder Addison Barger.

“That was huge,” an appreciative Gausman said. “Not much was going my way that inning, to kind of steal an out there was huge. That’s what (Barger) can do with his arm out there. He can throw 100 from the outfield. Whereas most guys probably wouldn’t even think about making that throw, he came up gunning.”

Toronto responded with a three-run fourth against righty Erick Fedde. Guerrero hit an RBI double, Spencer Horwitz followed with a sacrifice fly, and Kirk drove in Guerrero with a two-out single.

“When you get the lead early you want to keep it,” Fedde said. “Unfortunately I didn’t do that.”

Saggese tied it by connecting off left-hander ​​Génesis Cabrera in the eighth.

“He was great today and he’s been a really good addition to the team so far,” Fedde said of Saggese.

The Cardinals put runners at second and third with two outs in the fourth but Gausman escaped by catching Michael Siani’s line drive back to the mound.

Gausman allowed two runs and nine hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out three.

Guerrero started at third base and made a fine defensive play in the seventh, diving to snare Paul Goldschmidt’s hard grounder and tagging out Masyn Winn, who had strayed off the bag.

Guerrero moved to first in the ninth and ended the inning by making a diving play on Arenado’s grounder and throwing to pitcher Tommy Nance for the out, stranding a runner at second.

“He was kind of on a full display today,” Schneider said. “Those plays were obviously huge for us.”

Fedde was charged with three runs and six hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out three.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays RHP José Berríos (15-9, 3.52 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday against Cardinals RHP Kyle Gibson (8-6, 4.20).

How can I watch St. Louis Cardinals vs. Toronto Blue Jays?
  • TV Channel: Cardinals at Blue Jays 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
  • Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Blue Jays: 54.7%
Cardinals: 45.3%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

11th Inning Kirk singled to left, Guerrero Jr. scored, Wagner to second, Jimenez to third.
11th Inning Wagner grounded into fielder's choice to second, Jimenez to second, Guerrero Jr. to third, Lukes out at home.
11th Inning Jimenez reached on bunt single to catcher, Guerrero Jr. to second, Lukes to third.
11th Inning Guerrero Jr. intentionally walked.
11th Inning Winn struck out swinging.
11th Inning Siani grounded out to first, Walker to third.

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/stl.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSTL https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/tor.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originTOR
1 Games Played 1
1 Team Games Played 1
0 Hit By Pitch 0
16 Ground Balls 12
6 Strikeouts 7
3 Runs Batted In 4
0 Sacrifice Hit 0
12 Hits 10
1 Stolen Bases 1
2 Walks 3
0 Catcher Interference 0
3 Runs 4
1 Ground Into Double Play 1
0 Sacrifice Flies 1
44 At Bats 38
1 Home Runs 0
0 Grand Slam Home Runs 0
27 Runners Left On Base 19
0 Triples 0
0 Game Winning RBIs 1
0 Intentional Walks 1
2 Doubles 1
22 Fly Balls 20
0 Caught Stealing 0
161 Pitches 175
0 Games Started 0
1 Pinch At Bats 0
0 Pinch Hits 0
0.0 Player Rating 0.0
1 Is Qualified 1
1 Is Qualified In Steals 1
17 Total Bases 11
46 Plate Appearances 42
162.0 Projected Home Runs 0.0
3 Extra Base Hits 1
5.1 Runs Created 3.6
.273 Batting Average .263
.000 Pinch Hit Average .000
.386 Slugging Percentage .289
.182 Secondary Average .132
.304 On Base Percentage .310
.691 OBP Pct + SLG Pct .599
0.7 Ground To Fly Ball Ratio 0.6
4.2 Runs Created Per 27 Outs 3.2
32.0 Batter Rating 29.0
44.0 At Bats Per Home Run 0.0
1.00 Stolen Base Percentage 1.00
3.50 Pitches Per Plate Appearance 4.17
.114 Isolated Power .026
0.33 Walk To Strikeout Ratio 0.43
.043 Walks Per Plate Appearance .071
-.091 Secondary Average Minus Batting Average -.132
6.0 Runs Produced 8.0
1.0 Runs Ratio 1.0
0.4 Patience Ratio 0.3
0.3 Balls In Play Average 0.3
85.3 MLB Rating 80.5
0.0 Offensive Wins Above Replacement 0.0
0.0 Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Game Information

Rogers Centre

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Attendance: 30,380 | Capacity:

2024 National League Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Milwaukee 93 69 .574 - L1
St. Louis 83 79 .512 10 W1
Chicago 83 79 .512 10 L1
Cincinnati 77 85 .475 16 W1
Pittsburgh 76 86 .469 17 L1

2024 American League East Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
New York 94 68 .580 - W1
Baltimore 91 71 .562 3 W3
Boston 81 81 .500 13 W1
Tampa Bay 80 82 .494 14 L1
Toronto 74 88 .457 20 L3
Full Standings