Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) smiles towards St. Louis Cardinals first base Paul Goldschmidt (46) after hitting an RBI single during seventh inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Saturday, September 14, 2024.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Jose Berrios allowed two hits over seven innings to win a seventh straight start and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. registered his 500th career RBI as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2 on Saturday.
Davis Schneider also had three hits and two RBIs, including his first home run in 2 1/2 months, and Alejandro Kirk extended his hit streak to 10 games with an RBI single in the seventh as the Jays snatched the first two games of the teams’ interleague series.
Berrios (16-9) struck out four and gave up two walks in a 97-pitch outing before 33,999 at Rogers Centre.
Tied 1-1, the Blue Jays (71-78) enjoyed a four-run sixth inning, sending nine batters to the plate.
After Nathan Lukes led off with a single to left field, Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson (8-7) loaded the bases with back-to-back walks to Guerrero and Spencer Horwitz.
A throwing error from shortstop Masyn Winn on Ernie Clement’s grounder scored Lukes. This signalled the end of Gibson’s day in which he gave up only one earned run on four hits with three walks and a strikeout over 5 1/3 innings.
A ground out from Kirk off reliever Ryan Fernandez scored Guerrero, and back-to-back singles from Addison Barger and Schneider added two more runs.
The Blue Jays got two more in the seventh to go up 7-1 when Lukes drilled a one-out triple into the right-field corner. He scored on Guerrero’s single up the middle for his 96th RBI of 2024 and career No. 500.
Guerrero then scored on a Kirk single the Toronto catcher’s second RBI of the game.
Berrios retired the first eight batters he faced before giving up a two-out homer in the third inning to Jordan Walker, who deposited his shot into the first row of the left-field seats.
Schneider answered in the bottom half of the inning with a one-out opposite-field blast to tie the game after Gibson had retired the first seven batters he faced.
It was Schneider’s 11th homer and first since June 22.
The Cardinals (74-74) got a consolation run in the ninth after a double from Alex Burleson off Toronto reliever Luis Frias.
JIMENEZ OUT
The Blue Jays scratched shortstop Leo Jimenez from the lineup just before the game because of a right index finger contusion.
Jimenez laid down a bunt single to load the bases in the 11th inning of the Blue Jays’ walk-off 4-3 win Friday.
ON DECK
Toronto’s Yariel Rodriguez (1-5) will start the final of the three-game series Saturday. The Cardinals are scheduled to counter with righty Miles Mikolas (8-11).