Taking names and kicking Bass(itt)
For the second night in a row, St. Louis (36-31) came up one run short of Toronto (37-30) as the Blue Jays held off the Cardinals 10-9 Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
St. Louis was in a hole early after Andrés Giménez took Miles Mikolas deep to right field for a three-run home run. Mikolas offered up a 92 MPH 4-seam meatball that Giménez turned around and launched 387 feet.
St. Louis had a chance to tie things up in the home half of the second but came away empty. After Nolan Arenado singled up the middle and Nolan Gorman walked to bring the tying run to the plate, Pedro Pagés hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
The fourth inning proved to be a roller coaster. George Springer led off the top of the fourth with a single and then came all the way around to score thanks to a base hit by Alan Roden and up Toronto’s lead to 4-0. With runners at first and second, Myles hit into an inning-ending 6-3 double play.
St. Louis used the momentum of Arenado’s double play to tie the game in the home half of the fourth. Every good rally starts with a free pass, and Brendan Donovan obliged. He took one for the team and got hit by a pitch, then went first to third on a line drive to center field by Alec Burleson. Arenado drove Donovan home with a base hit to right to get St. Louis on the board, and then our other favorite Nolan, Gorman, tied the game with a three-run home run to right field. Fun fact, after that home run by Gorman that brought him to 3-3 against Bassitt with all three hits being homers.
But just as soon as St. Louis tied the game, Toronto took the lead right back in the fifth inning. A lead off single by Jonatan Clase, a hard hit ground ball by Bo Bichette, and a perfectly placed bloop double by Addison Barger gave the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead, and then a sac fly by Springer brought Bichette to up Tornoto’s lead to 6-4.
While Mokalas couldn’t use the second chance that was evening the score to his advantage, Bassitt settled. Bassitt retired eight straight batters and nine of 10 between the fifth and the seventh innings. Bassitt finished the night with seven innings, giving up six hits, four runs, all earned, three strikeouts, and a pair of walks.
With Basitt locking St. Louis up in a headlock, Toronto went back on the offensive. The Blue Jays scored two more in the seventh inning to double up St. Louis, 8-4. Alejandro Kirk took the newly inserted John Leahy deep to right centerfield for a two-run shot. Kirk’s been a Cardinal killer over the course of this series with six hits and two home runs through these first two games.
Arenado tried to make things interesting with a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to cut the Blue Jay lead down to 8-6, but Toronto got those runs back in the top of the ninth and made it 10-6.
St. Louis wouldn’t go quietly, however. With runners on the corners and two outs, Wilson Contreras took the very first pitch thrown by Jeff Hoffman deep to centerfield to make it a 10-9 game, but the very next pitch was a game-ending ground out to second by Burleson.