All eyes were on St. Louis Cardinals starter Quinn Mathews as he made his Major League debut Saturday afternoon. All things considered, Quinn was impressive, but what kind of run support would the Cardinals provide behind him? Answer – not nearly enough.
It only took 3 batters for Quinn Mathews to register his first Major League strikeout. He accomplished that with a 96 mph four-seam fastball that he blew past Okamoto.
The St. Louis Cardinals offense did not lack hits Saturday, but connecting them in rally form that would result in runs seemed elusive. Despite having 7 hits in the first 5 innings, St. Louis did not score any runs behind Mathews. It would be the Toronto Blue Jays that would score first as they finally were able to get to Mathews after he walked Schneider to open the bottom of the 3rd inning. Guerrero Jr. hit a single one out later and Schneider scored the first run of the game when George Springer singled to left to make it 1-0 Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays would double their lead in the bottom of the 4th inning when Ernie Clement led off with a single. Straw followed that with a double to left, but Clement held up at third. With runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs, it’s to Quinn Mathews credit that the Blue Jays only managed one more run when Urias hit a sacrifice fly to center increasing the Blue Jays lead to 2-0 after 4 innings.
The Cardinals would finally get some forward momentum in the top of the 6th inning when Iván Herrera hammered a leadoff double. He moved over to third on a groundout from Lars Nootbaar and then scored when Masyn Winn drove a ball into the right-centerfield gap for a RBI double reducing the Blue Jays lead to 2-1. They would also chase Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman out of the game in the 6th. He’s one of the prime targets likely to be moved before Monday’s trade deadline.
Quinn Mathews would stay in the game until the start of the 6th inning when he allowed a leadoff bunt single to Varsho. His final stat line would be 5 innings, 2 earned runs, 2 strikeouts while also walking 2. A very positive first impression for his MLB debut. Luis Gastelum took over for Mathews and was able to complete the bottom of the 6th inning without allowing any more Blue Jays runs.
The Cardinals managed a mini-threat in the top of the 7th inning when Jordan Walker managed a two-out single. He would move up into scoring position when Alec Burleson walked giving St. Louis runners at first and second, but nothing would come of it when Iván Herrera grounded out on the first pitch he saw to end the Cardinals 7th.
If walking the leadoff man always comes back to haunt you, the same can be said when you hit a batter with a pitch which is what Luis Gastelum did in the bottom of the 7th inning when he plunked Gimenez on the foot. Vlad Guerrero Jr. then reached on an infield single that Masyn Winn tracked down in the hole, but couldn’t manage a throw. George Springer followed with a double to right just beyond a diving Jordan Walker, but only one run would score (for now) as Guerrero Jr. held at third with the Jays now leading 3-1. Manager Oli Marmol lifted Luis Gastelum for Peter Strzelecki who was greeted rudely by Alejandro Kirk who lined a single to right field scoring 2 more runs giving the Blue Jays a commanding 5-1 lead.
The Redbirds showed the desire to score again in the top of the 8th when Masyn Winn walked and Blaze Jordan doubled off of the right field wall, but no runs would cross the plate because that’s not what the Cardinals do these days. Nope, instead no runs were scored because we’re trying to drive our RISP left on base to stratospheric heights. Sorry, but it’s really hard to not be sarcastic right now watching this team that started with so much promise showing how much roster work that still needs to be done.
Final score Saturday was Blue Jays 5 and Cardinals 1 even though St. Louis had more hits than Toronto which is just how things go during the second half of the season for the Cards.
The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their brief road trip to the Great White North Sunday as it’s game 3 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Matthew Liberatore will start for the Cardinals and he’ll compete with University of Mizzou alum Max Scherzer who gets the ball for the Blue Jays. First pitch is set for 12:37pm central time and the game broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.
