TORONTO — The Cardinals bullpen took the loss, but the club’s offensive struggles were the true culprit behind Sunday’s series-ending loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Offensive futility was the main culprit of the entire weekend as the Cardinals were swept for just the sixth time this season.
In the top of the eighth inning of a tie game, the Cardinals played their lone trump card off the bench when Brendan Donovan drew a leadoff walk against Blue Jays left-handed reliever and former Cardinal Genesis Cabrera. That’s when Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol went to Paul Goldschmidt as a pinch hitter for Alec Burleson in hopes of igniting a scoring opportunity.
Instead, Goldschmidt hit into double play, and the Cardinals didn’t score in the inning. They took their shot and had nothing to show for it.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Blue Jays got a one-out, pinch-hit single by against Cardinals bullpen stalwart Andrew Kittredge. Springer singled, then scored the decisive run on Nathan Lukes’ opposite-field RBI double into the left field corner as the Cardinals fell 3-2 to the Blue Jays in the finale of their three-game set at Rogers Centre.
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The Cardinals scored seven total runs in the three-game series, including one extra-inning game.
“Here’s the thing with our ’pen: It gets kind of amplified a little bit when they give up a run, and it’s because the margins are so thin for them,†Marmol said. “It’s been that way all year. You’ve got to give them credit. They’ve done a hell of a job, for a long time now, of giving us every bit of a chance to win. Any time they give up a run or two — for the most part, other teams do that and they’re still up two runs of they’re still up three runs and it’s OK. But our guys, one run flips the game, and it’s constant.
“So there’s a lot of pressure on those guys, and they’ve handled it really well. I’m proud of them. Offensively, we just haven’t had the ability to execute. Plain and simple. There’s no talking around it or excusing it. We just don’t score enough runs right now to win games, especially to go on a run.â€
The Cardinals fell to a game below .500, with a 74-75 record, going into the final 13 games of the season. They still have not been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but they fell 7½ games behind the Atlanta Braves heading into the Braves’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball."
Cardinals outfielders Lars Nootbaar and Jordan Walker drove in the club’s runs in Sunday’s loss. Nootbaar went 2 for 4 with a home run, while Walker went 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI. The Cardinals went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base.
Entering Sunday, Blue Jays starting pitchers had posted the best ERA in the majors since the start of August (3.02).
Right-hander Yariel Rodriguez allowed one hit through the first four innings, but catcher Ivan Herrera (1 for 3) singled to start the fifth and Walker lined an RBI double over the head of Blue Jays center fielder, Lukes, and gave the Cardinals a 1-0 advantage.
s had held the Blue Jays to just two hits through the first four innings. Thanks to a double play and a runner caught trying to advance to second base on a pitch in the dirt, he faced the minimum number of batters through four innings.
However, the Blue Jays (72-78) responded in the bottom half of the inning when a two-strike pitch from Mikolas sailed up and inside off the plate to hit Spencer Horwitz. Mikolas then went to a full count on Davis Schneider after Schneider fouled off an initial two-strike pitch.
Mikolas’ 3-2 sinker didn’t have the late action he’d wanted, and it stayed over the heart of the plate and belt high. Mikolas reacted almost immediately when he saw the location of the pitch.
“Trying to keep that ball down right there, and I kind of just threw it right down the middle,†Mikolas said. “This is a team that swings a lot. So I knew he was going to swing. As soon as I saw that it wasn’t going to be down, I knew that it wasn’t going to be great pitch.â€
Schneider, who also homered on Saturday, smacked the sinker over the left-center field wall for a two-run home run.
Mikolas went five innings and allowed two runs on three hits and no walks. He struck out four batters. He did not factor into the decision in what was the 47th one-run game of the season for the Cardinals (they've gone 27-20).
Asked about the club’s penchant for playing so many tight games this season and what it’s like knowing any one play could prove pivotal, Mikolas turned to world of rock music.
“It’s Jon Bon Jovi 'Livin’ on the Edge,'†Mikolas said, seemingly combining and “It’s a fickle place to be. It’s rough walking the line on the razor’s edge there. It does make for some exciting games. I think if you asked a lot of people, we’d rather have some more blowouts in our favor.
“It’s a lineup that can, for sure, put good swings on the ball and put a hurting on opposing pitchers. I think that’s something that we’ll start to do the end of this year and, hopefully, into next year as some of these young guys get more comfortable and the veterans get back into the swing of things.â€
Nootbaar took Blue Jays reliever Ryan Yarbrough deep to start the seventh inning. Nootbar’s first home run against a left-handed pitcher this season tied the score 2-2. It stayed that way until the Blue Jays pushed a run across in the eighth against Kittredge.
The Cardinals made a last-ditch effort in the ninth. Luken Baker singled, and with two outs, Thomas Saggese hustled and beat out an infield single to bring Walker to the plate with the tying run in scoring position.
“You want to see him in that last situation there,†Marmol said of Walker. “The more times that happens, the better for him and for us. You want the game on the line with some of these young guys leading into the end of this season for it to be meaningful, for them to take some at-bats where something is on the line.â€
Walker, who doubled in the game’s first run and homered on Saturday, got a first-pitch fastball up in the zone from Blue Jays reliever Chad Green, and he swung. Walker’s swing yielded a game-ending pop fly to shortstop.
“I obviously want to come through for the team right there,†Walker said. “I didn’t, and that’s frustrating, but I think that I need to prepare myself for the next time in that moment to come through.â€
As far as Marmol’s sentiments about those types of situations benefiting Walker in the long run, Walker said he certainly hopes to learn from that situation. Of course, he was more focused on the desire to deliver in the present than any potential future payoff.
“I think whenever I’m in that moment, I want to come through,†Walker said.