TORONTO — Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Gibson knew that the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup wouldn’t go chasing and swinging wildly at pitches out of the strike zone. He also felt he could see a path to success if he made his pitches against that lineup.
For the majority of five innings, with one hiccup, Gibson carried out his plan. Then in the sixth inning, the Blue Jays got him to miss a few too many times and then took advantage of a misplay in the field as they broke open a tie game with a four-run inning.
When the dust settled on the Cardinals’ 7-2 loss to the Blue Jays in the second game of their three-game series at the Rogers Centre on Saturday afternoon, Gibson had given up four unearned runs and his teammates had scratched out just three hits as their Canadian counterparts secured the series victory.
The Cardinals, who fell to .500 (74-74) with their second straight loss, will try to avoid being swept in Sunday’s series finale.
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“Offensively we just didn’t string anything together all day,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “(Jose) Berrios did a nice job against us. Jordan with a good swing for the homer there on a slider that stays up. But overall, we just couldn’t do a whole lot offensively. I thought ‘Gibby’ gave us a shot.â€
Jordan Walker’s third home run of the season accounted for the Cardinals only run until the ninth inning. He went 1 for 2 with a walk and a home run. Alec Burleson (1 for 4, double, run scored) and Brendan Donovan (1 for 4) also had hits, while Nolan Arenado (0 for 2) reached base on a walk.
Arenado had a strange “injury†timeout in the field in the eighth inning involving a bee.
Arenado said the bee flew near his ear when he took his glove off and swiped at the bug with his glove. When he placed the glove back on his hand, he got stung. When he pulled his hand back out of the glove, the stinger was stuck in his pinky finger. Arenado’s finger was visibly swollen after the game, but he said he’s not allergic and he took a Benadryl. He hoped to play on Sunday.
“Twenty twenty-four has been a trip, I don’t know how to describe it,†Arenado said.
Blue Jays starting pitcher Berrios (16-9) held the Cardinals to one run on two hits and two walks in seven innings. Berrios, a two-time All-Star, struck out four in a 97-pitch outing.
“He’s just probably one of the more consistent pitchers in the game that people don’t talk about,†Arenado said. “His ball moves a lot. His ‘slurve’ moves. His sinker has good movement. He can pop a four-seamer up in there and a changeup once in a while. He’s smart. He mixes everything really well and it moves a lot.â€
Walker gave the Cardinals their first hit and first run all with one swing on a 1-1 breaking ball that stayed up and over the inner half of the plate. He hammered it an estimated 397 feet to left-center field. It marked Walker’s third home run in September.
Walker, who batted in the No. 9 spot in the batting order, entered the day having gone 1 for 10 in his previous four games.
His homer gave the Cardinals a brief one-run lead, but the Blue Jays responded in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run by Davis Schneider (3 for 4). He hit a 2-1 sinker that stayed up and over the heart of the plate. Schneider smacked it over the wall in right-center field for the first hit allowed by Gibson.
The Blue Jays threatened to do more damage in the frame when Joey Loperfido followed Schneider’s big swing with a double to put a runner in scoring position with one out.
However, Gibson got George Spinger to pop up to second base followed by an inning-ending fly ball by Nathan Lukes that stranded the runner.
“My cutter was pretty good today, I was able to get a lot of groundballs with that,†Gibson said. “With a team that doesn’t strike out a lot, sometimes they’re a team that’s going to put the ball in play. If I can execute my pitch in certain parts of the zone, I can kind of force the type of contact I want.â€
The score stayed tied going into the sixth inning.
After Gibson got Springer to ground out to start inning, Lukes singled to left field and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Spencer Horwitz drew back-to-back walks that loaded the bases.
Gibson’s pitch count climbed to 93 at that point, but Marmol felt the best chance to get a groundball from the next batter, Ernie Clement, was the matchup with Gibson. Marmol had Ryan Fernandez and Andrew Kittredge warming in the bullpen.
Marmol later explained that Kittredge likely would have entered if Gibson got the second out of the inning and the Cardinals were one out away from keeping the score tied.
With Gibson on the mound, Clement hit a grounder to shortstop Masyn Winn, who threw home to try for the force out. Winn’s throw came in on a hop and bounced into the chest protector of catcher Pedro Pages.
Pages appeared to momentarily have the ball pinned to his body, but it squirted out of his grasp and fell to the ground. Pages scrambled to pick the ball up, but he was a split second too late as Lukes scored from third. Winn was charged with an error on the play.
After Clement’s grounder, Marmol went to Fernandez and he gave up an RBI groundout on a slow roller than second baseman Thomas Saggese had to charge in on. Then Addison Barger swatted an RBI single on the ground in right field, and Davis Schneider lined an RBI single to left field to drive in the fourth run of the inning.
All four runs were unearned runs charged to Gibson in that inning.
“It’s a team that, just from what I looked at, they do a good job of putting the bat on the ball,†Gibson said of the Blue Jays. “They’re a low strikeout team, pretty patient outside of the strike zone. Overall, I think Pedro and I navigated it pretty well. Then in the (sixth) inning, they did a good job of laying off some pitches and made me work there for those couple walks.
“It’s unfortunate how the outing ended, but overall I felt pretty good. I just wish I could have avoided those two walks there in the sixth.â€
The Blue Jays tacked on two runs in the seventh against reliever Riley O’Brien.
The Cardinals scored the game’s final run on an RBI groundout by pinch-hitter Jose Fermin’s groundout. Burleson, who led off the inning with a double and advanced on a fly ball to right field, scored on the play.