TORONTO — The Cardinals certainly had some hits stolen from them by outstanding defensive plays in the late innings on Friday night, but they also just came up empty too many times. One fewer swing-and-miss or one more solidly hit ball instead of a harmless grounder might have provided the needed run. The chances were undoubtedly present.
Instead, the Cardinals repeatedly left money on the table until the Toronto Blue Jays turned those miscues into a cash windfall in the form of an extra-inning walk-off. The Cardinals were an almost mind-boggling 2 for 19 with runners scoring position in a 4-3 loss in 11 innings in the opening game of their three-game series against the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.
The Cardinals (74-73) have now lost eight of their past nine series-opening games, though they went on to win or split six of those previous eight series. With the loss, they also dropped seven games behind the New York Mets (81-66) for the NL final wild card spot with just 15 games remaining in the season.
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On a night when the Cardinals bullpen just one run in 5 1/3 innings and recently promoted rookie Thomas Saggese belted his first home run in the major leagues to tie the score in the eighth inning, the Cardinals were left to lament the runs they didn’t score at instances scattered throughout the game.
“You look at that game, there’s a lot of different ways of winning it,†Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Scoring more in the first. You load up the bases there. You push two across, but that’s kind of a little bit the theme of our season – our inability to drive the baseball with runners in scoring position has been a topic of conversation. I know as a club we’ve talked about it quite a bit.
“Being able to get a bit hit there, get a double, push a couple more across there in that first would have been important. Then you look at the extra innings, again we had some opportunities. We did take some good swings. They made some nice plays. … Give them credit and tip your cap, but we had opportunities. You don’t deserve to win when you go 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position.â€
The Cardinals started the game by jumping on Blue Jays starting pitcher Kevin Gausman immediately. Four consecutive hits led to a run before Gausman recorded an out. However, the Cardinals only scored two runs in that inning despite their quick start.
With the bases loaded, no outs and one run already scored in the first, the Cardinals Brendan Donovan struck out, Saggese hit into fielder’s choice on a ball to the outfield when Nolan Arenado go stuck in no man’s land between first base and second base, and then Lars Nootbaar popped up to end the inning.
Not scoring more than two runs quickly came back to haunt the Cardinals when the Blue Jays (70-78) scored three in the fourth inning against starting pitcher Erick Fedde.
A leadoff walk to George Springer and a single by Nathan Lukes set table for slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Fedde tried to sneak a first-pitch sweeper past Guerrero, but it ended up rocketing off Guerrero’s bat and off the left field wall for an RBI double.
Then Spencer Horwitz followed with a sacrifice fly that tied the score 2-2 with just one out in the inning.
Following a Will Wagner fly ball to center field for the second out, Fedde gave up a go-ahead RBI single to Barger and the Blue Jays took a 3-2 edge.
Fedde allowed all three of his runs in that fourth inning. He went five innings and gave up six hits and one walk. He also struck out three.
After the game, Fedde bemoaned the leadoff walk to Spring to start that inning.
“I think when you look at that lineup, the goal is too keep as many guys off base (as possible) when Vlad is coming up,†Fedde said. “He comes up with two guys, that’s not really the plan. I’d prefer to make guys earn those bases a little more.â€
Cardinals relievers John King (one inning) and Matthew Liberatore (three innings) kept the Blue Jays offense in check through the ninth inning.
In the eighth, Saggese provided the equalizer on one swing on a 1-2 curveball from left-handed reliever and former Cardinal Genesis Cabrera.
“I was just excited that we tied the game, to be honest,†Saggese said of his thoughts as he rounded the bases. “Excited that we tied the game, and I thought it was a pretty cool experience to hit my first big-league home run. That’s something you dream about as well, in a big situation like. That was pretty exciting. I was more thinking about that we just tied the game.â€
Saggese became the eight Cardinals player to hit his first career home run in Canada, the second to do so in Toronto along with Randal Grichuk (2014). The others include Coln Porter (2004), Dmitri Young (1997), Bernard Gilkey (1990), Jerry Mumphrey (1976), Jorge Roque (1972) and Jerry DaVanon (1969), each done in Montreal.
The Cardinals nearly had a go-ahead home run by Paul Goldschmidt in the ninth inning, but his deep fly ball hit the right field wall a few feet shy of a home run. Instead, the blast went for a double and put Goldschmidt in scoring position.
However, Guerrero, who moved from third base to first base at the start of the ninth inning, made a diving stop on a hot shot on the ground by Arenado and threw to pitcher Tommy Nance covering first in time to record the third out of the inning.
Guerrero robbed Goldschmidt of a potential hit on a ball down the line at third base in the seventh with Masyn Winn on third. Guerrero’s quick reaction allowed him to tag Winn, who'd been leading off third, and wipe out the runner 90 feet away scoring what would have been the tying run at that point in the game.
With the automatic runner on third base and two outs in the 10th inning, Guerrero made another diving at first base on a ball scolded by pinch hitter Luken Baker, and Guerrero's throw to first again kept the run from scoring.
The Cardinals held serve with reliever Ryan Fernandez on the mound in the 10th inning. Fernandez stranded the automatic runner on base with a strikeout, a groundout and a pop up caught in foul territory.
After the Cardinals came up empty again in the top of the 11th that set the stage for the Blue Jays’ walk-off.
The Cardinals intentionally walked Guerrero with the automatic runner already at second base to start the frame. The third batter of inning, Leo Jimenez squared for a sacrifice bunt that catcher Pedro Pages fielded.
Pages looked to third base, but then decided to throw to first. As he turned toward first, his right foot started to slide out from underneath him. His throw to first base was late, and that left the bases loaded with no outs recorded.
“I came up strong, obviously want to get the out at third,†Pages said. “I looked. It was going to be a close play in my eyes in real time. So as soon as I went to go throw to first my back foot slipped a little bit.
"When I slipped, I didn’t want to throw it away obviously. So I kind of just flicked it over there hoping the guy wouldn’t beat it out, but the guy beat it out. It’s tough. It’s part of the game.â€
With the bases loaded, Will Wagner hit a grounder sharply at Saggese, who’d been part of two double plays earlier in the game. Saggese threw home, but the one-hop throw didn’t allow Pages to try to turn a double play.
The next batter, Alejandro Kirk hit an 0-1 slider from Fernandez 370 feet to left field and over the head of the left fielder Donovan for a walk-off hit.
“There was a lot of plays made on both sides of the field,†Pages said. “Vlady took a couple from us. Tommy took a couple from them. We’ve just got to keep making good plays like that, play good baseball and see what happens. It just comes down to the end. They came out with the win. We’ve just got to keep working.â€