Any game that Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease is involved in is likely to be a pitcher’s duel. That proved true Friday night, but Kyle Leahy was equally vexing to the Blue Jays lineup. Eventually it would come down to which team would prevail against the other’s bullpen and I’ll give you two guesses, but you’ll only need one to figure out whose bullpen won.
There isn’t much offense from either team to share for the first half of Friday’s game in Toronto, but there was an excellent defense play from Alec Burleson who robbed Nathan Lukes leading off the bottom of the 1st inning.
Alec Burleson also had the Cardinals first hit of the game which didn’t happen until the top of the 4th inning when he lead off with a double. Unfortunately, neither Herrera, Nootbaar or Winn could drive him in. When Dylan Cease is on the mound, you had better take advantage of scoring chances.
St. Louis had a similar opportunity with different results in the top of the 5th inning when Nathan Church led off with a single under Clement’s glove. He then stole second giving the Cardinals another runner in scoring position with no outs. Fermin grounded out to Guerrero Jr. who made a great play at first which moved Church to third with one out. Jimmy Crooks struck out, but JJ Wetherholt drew a walk and then Jordan Walker came through with a two-out single to left center scoring Church and giving St. Louis a precious 1-0 lead.
Kyle Leahy avoided drama until the bottom of the 5th inning when the Toronto Blue Jays started a two-out rally when Valenzuela singled followed by Gimenez who grounded deep to short where Masyn Winn nearly made an incredible play almost throwing him out at first. But, Nathan Lukes hit a weak fly to Jordan Walker in right to end the inning with no real damage done.
The Blue Jays would finally get to Leahy in the bottom of the 6th inning. Vladamir Guerrero Jr., who had not hit a home run in Toronto this season, came within an eyelash of doing that Friday night. He crushed an 85 mph Leahy curveball that hung up in the zone high off of the left field wall for a leadoff double. Kazuma Okamoto followed with a double of his own into the left field corner scoring Guerrero Jr. tying the game 1-1. It could have been worse as Springer lined out to Burleson at first. Varsho then hit a laser groundball that took a short hop on JJ Wetherholt, but he was able to snag it and throw Varsho out. Finally, Clement popped out to centerfield where Nathan Church made a run-saving diving catch to end the Blue Jays 6th.
Both Kyle Leahy and Dylan Cease would come out of the game after 6 complete innings by each. Kyle Leahy’s stat line was 6 innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 run while striking out 3 and walking 1. Dylan Cease’s 6 innings also included 1 earned run, but he only allowed 3 hits while striking out 7 and walking 3. You know you’ve had a solid outing when you’ve gone mano-a-mano with All-Star Cease.
The Cardinals bullpen took over the bottom of the 7th with Justin Bruihl. He struck out Schneider, but then allowed a single to Valenzuela. Gimenez then hit a ball to the right side of the infield that glanced off of Burleson’s glove giving Toronto runners at first and second with no outs. Manager Oli Marmol brought in Peter Strezelecki to replace Bruihl. The Blue Jays had Myles Straw pinch-hit for Lukes and he was immediately plunked on the arm by Strezelecki loading the bases for the very much overdue Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with just one out. In what can almost be considered a baseball miracle, Strezelecki got Guerrero Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play keeping the game tied 1-1 after 7 innings.
After the Cardinals did nothing with their half of the 8th inning, Strezelecki stayed in the game long enough to get one out before walking Springer and Varsho. Gordon Graceffo was handed the ball with the hope that he could keep the game tied. He upped the degree of difficulty by walking Ernie Clement to load the bases. The Blue Jays sent up pinch-hitter Luis Urias. He took the second pitch he saw which was a slider on the outside part of the plate and turned it into a 2-run RBI single giving the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead. The Cardinals were fortunate to get an inning-ending double play to keep Toronto from piling on even more runs.
For the Cardinals to extend Friday’s game, the bottom half of the St. Louis lineup would have to come through against Blue Jays All-Star reliever Louis Varland. Lars Nootbaar started the Cardinals 9th with a groundout to Clement at second. Masyn Winn was able to line a single into right field to give St. Louis some hope bringing up Nathan Church who already had 2 hits on the night as the potential tying run. He flew out to right field for the second out. Jose Fermin grounded out to end the game and start the Cardinals Canadian field trip with a loss.
Saturday’s matinee matchup between the St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays will feature the Major League debut of Quinn Matthews. He’ll compete with Kevin Gausman who gets the start for the Blue Jays. First pitch is scheduled for 2:07pm central time and the TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.
