St. Louis Cardinals at Toronto Blue Jays

· Major League Baseball

St. Louis Cardinals

74-75, 35-40 Away

Final
2 - 3

Toronto Blue Jays

72-78, 38-37 Home

Nathan Lukes' double in 8th pushes Blue Jays past Cardinals 3-2 to complete 3-game sweep

Pinch hitter George Springer singled off right-hander Andrew Kittredge (4-5) with one out in the eighth and Lukes followed with an RBI double into the left field corner.

“Really good pitching and defense today,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Sweeping a team is really hard, no matter who it is, but it takes a lot of focus and we kind of did that.”

Lukes and Kittredge were teammates with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A team in Durham in 2019, which Lukes felt gave him an edge in their late-game matchup.

“I kind of knew what his stuff was going to do,” Lukes said. “Just tried looking for something in the zone and put a good swing on it.”

Kittredge came in with an NL-leading 33 holds. He hadn’t allowed a run since Aug. 21 against Milwaukee.

“Here’s the thing with our ’pen,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It gets kind of amplified when they give up a run because the margins are so thin for them. It’s been that way all year.”

Davis Schneider added a two-run home run, his second homer in two games, to help the Blue Jays sweep their fifth series of the season.

Right-hander Zach Pop (2-4) retired Nolan Arenado, the only batter he faced, for the final out of the eighth. Righty Chad Green stranded two runners in the ninth to earn his 17th save in 20 chances.

Lars Nootbaar homered for the Cardinals, who have lost six of nine to fall below .500 at 74-75. St. Louis was swept for the sixth time.

“Offensively, we just haven’t had the ability to execute, plain and simple,” Marmol said. “There’s no talking around it or excusing it. We just don’t score enough runs right now to win games.”

Blue Jays second baseman Leo Jiménez turned in the defensive play of the game in the sixth, diving to stop a hard grounder from Luken Baker and flipping to shortstop Ernie Clement to start an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

“The plays that he’s making, it’s just mouth to the ground,” Lukes said of Jiménez. “It’s unbelievable what he’s doing out there.”

St. Louis outfielder Jordan Walker opened the scoring and chased Toronto starter Yariel Rodríguez with an RBI double in the fifth.

The Blue Jays answered in the bottom half when Schneider hit a two-run drive to center off Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas.

Before his solo home run Saturday, Schneider hadn’t homered since June 22. Sunday’s homer was his 12th of 2024.

St. Louis tied it when Ryan Yarbrough to begin the seventh. The homer was Nootbaar’s 10th.

Rodríguez allowed one run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out two.

Mikolas was charged with two runs and three hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out four.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: Jiménez returned to the lineup after being scratched Saturday because of a right index finger contusion.

Cardinals: RHP Andre Pallante (6-8, 4.13 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday in the opener of a three-game series against Pittsburgh. RHP Paul Skenes (10-2, 2.10) goes for the Pirates.

Blue Jays: Toronto begins a three-game series at Texas on Tuesday.

How can I watch St. Louis Cardinals vs. Toronto Blue Jays?

TV Channel: Cardinals at Blue Jays 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on Sportsnet.
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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Walker popped out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Saggese reached on infield single to first, Fermín to second.
	9th Inning	Herrera flied out to right.
	9th Inning	Nootbaar struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Fermín ran for Baker
	9th Inning	Baker singled to left.

Statistics

STL		TOR
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
10	Ground Balls	9
5	Strikeouts	8
2	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
7	Hits	6
1	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
2	Runs	3
2	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
32	At Bats	28
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
16	Runners Left On Base	7
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	2
1	Doubles	2
17	Fly Balls	11
0	Caught Stealing	0
131	Pitches	117
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	1
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
11	Total Bases	11
35	Plate Appearances	31
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
2	Extra Base Hits	3
2.8	Runs Created	3.0
.219	Batting Average	.214
.000	Pinch Hit Average	1.000
.344	Slugging Percentage	.393
.250	Secondary Average	.250
.286	On Base Percentage	.290
.629	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.683
0.6	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.8
2.8	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.5
21.0	Batter Rating	25.0
32.0	At Bats Per Home Run	28.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.74	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.77
.125	Isolated Power	.179
0.60	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.25
.086	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.065
.031	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.036
4.0	Runs Produced	6.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.3
74.5	MLB Rating	75.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0