Blue Jays earn sweep against St. Louis Cardinals as their momentum keeps picking up steam
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It has been said, and often proven, that when you’re hot, you’re hot.
The Blue Jays fall under the above category, a surging team that continues to find different ways to win, even when facing a deficit.
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Blue Jays earn sweep against St. Louis Cardinals as their momentum keeps picking up steam Back to video
Nothing seems to rattle this team at this particular moment, a time in which the Jays have improved their record to 38-30 following Wednesday’s 5-2 win and a three-game sweep against the host St. Louis Cardinals.
Toronto has gone 6-0 during its nine-game road trip that winds down this weekend in Philadelphia.
The Jays are winning with the longball and can also manufacture runs.
The team’s pitching is walking a delicate balance, but it’s been working.
The following are three takeaways from an afternoon at Busch Stadium where veteran right-hander Spencer Turnbull made his Blue Jays debut, striking out two and surrendering two hits in two scoreless innings, a day when Yariel Rodriguez pitched a hitless ninth to pick up the save, his first in the bigs.
1. Small ball
The return of the home run to the Jays’ offensive arsenal is one of the main reasons why they’ve been able to go on a run that has led to five straight series wins.
Every so often, small ball is in vogue.
Witness the top of the fourth inning, which began with the teams locked in a 2-2 tie.
Blue Jays’ Myles Straw reached base on a bunt single.
Jonatan Clase then walked, moving Straw to second base.
Tyler Heineman would then execute a sac bunt to advance the runners.
A Bo Bichette sac fly would give the Jays a 3-2 lead.
After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in Clase to extend Toronto’s lead, Vlad Jr. stole second.
It was his second base swipe of the season.
There was nothing exotic or appealing in how the Blue Jays manufactured two runs, but there was something very reminiscent of the days when teams didn’t have to rely on the longball.
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There was something unusual in how the inning ended when Alejandro Kirk struck out swinging.
Entering the day, Kirk had struck out four times in his past 20 games.
The home run can’t be dismissed because it has help fuel the Jays’ resurgence.
In the fifth inning, Ernie Clement went deep for his fourth homer of the season as the Jays scored their fifth unanswered run.
It was Clement’s third hit of the game.
He did injure his left leg when he dove to his left at third base and would be replaced by Addison Barger to begin the ninth inning.
Curiously, Clement was wearing Bowden Francis’ pants on this day.
When Kirk recorded his second hit of the game to lead off the seventh inning, it marked his ninth base knock of the series.
2. Lauer power
Eric Lauer isn’t going to make fans forget fellow left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, who was released from his minor-league deal with the Blue Jays only to be scooped up by the New York Yankees.
All things considered, Lauer has performed well when asked to take to the mound.
He started the series finale in what was essentially a bullpen day, an option the Blue Jays had no choice but to exercise given their starting rotation and how only three reliable arms give them a chance to win.
Toronto has rallied around bullpen days, but they are not recommended and certainly not sustainable.
Lauer gave up runs in each of the first two innings to the Cards.
In the third, he issued his first free pass before hitting a batter.
Both came with two outs.
Lauer’s third strikeout on the afternoon would end the inning.
Through three innings, Lauer had thrown 59 pitches, but he did keep his team in the game, even when he failed to keep the ball in the field of play after yielding a two-out solo homer.
The Jays were hoping to extract four innings out of Lauer.
He gave them 4.1 innings of four-hit ball.
The 72-pitch outing was the third highest for Lauer this season.
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3. Tying up Loose ends
The Jays have scripted their own feel-good story in recent weeks.
Another played out in the hours leading up to first pitch at Busch Stadium Wednesday when Will Robertson, who has been raking in triple-A, was called up in the wake of Nathan Lukes being placed on the seven-day concussion injured list following his collision with Clement in Monday’s series opener.
Robertson hails from Loose Creek, Mo., located a two-hour drive West of St. Louis.
Based on the number of family and friends in attendance, it seemed the entire population of Loose Creek had made the trip.
T-shirts were even created to celebrate the occasion.
Robertson was not in the Jays’ starting lineup.
Growing up, Robertson said he was a big fan of the Cardinals and added how he was in attendance for the 2006 and 2011 World Series.
Alan Roden was Robertson’s collegiate teammate at Creighton.
The two reunited in Buffalo where Robertson got to know Davis Schneider, who started at second base Wednesday and went 0-for-3 at the plate, including a strikeout.
Up next
Thursday marks an off day for the Blue Jays, who will resume play Friday night in Philadelphia for a three-game series; the Jays are scheduled to start Kevin Gausman in the opener followed by Francis and Jose Berrios; when the teams hooked up in Toronto last week, the Jays took two of three from the Phillies, including the final two games when the Jays held Philly to a combined two runs.
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