Cardinals Waste Leahy’s Strong Start, Fall to Blue Jays 3-1

THE CARDINAL CHRONICLE
Cardinals Waste Leahy’s Strong Start, Fall to Blue Jays 3-1
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals keep finding different ways to tell the same story.

Good enough pitching.

Not enough offense.

Friday night in Toronto, Kyle Leahy gave the Cardinals exactly the kind of start they needed to open a road series. He worked six innings, allowed only one run, kept the Blue Jays from building an early lead and gave St. Louis a chance to win a low-scoring game.

The Cardinals did not take it.

Toronto scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie on a two-run single from Luis Urías, and the Blue Jays beat the Cardinals 3-1 at Rogers Centre.

It was another winnable game that slipped away.

It was also another night when the Cardinals’ offense did not provide enough support for a quality start.

St. Louis finished with one run on four hits. The Cardinals drew three walks, struck out 11 times and went just long enough without a big swing to let the game get away late.

That has become the problem.

The Cardinals are getting starts they can win with. They are getting bullpen innings that, most nights, should keep them close. They are getting enough from their pitching staff to stay in games.

But staying in games is not the same as winning them.

Friday night was proof.

Leahy was sharp enough to give St. Louis a chance. He worked around traffic, avoided the big inning and gave the Cardinals six innings of one-run baseball. Toronto had baserunners, but Leahy did not let the Blue Jays turn those chances into real separation.

That was the job.

He did it.

The Cardinals’ offense did not.

Dylan Cease started for Toronto and gave the Blue Jays six innings of one-run ball. The Cardinals had a few chances against him, but they never sustained enough pressure to knock him out of control. Cease allowed three hits, walked three and struck out seven, keeping St. Louis from turning traffic into damage.

The Cardinals finally broke through in the fifth.

Nathan Church singled and gave St. Louis a chance from the bottom third of the order. JJ Wetherholt reached, and Jordan Walker followed with the Cardinals’ biggest swing of the night, a single to shallow center that brought Church home and gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead.

For a moment, it looked like that might be enough.

With Leahy on the mound and the Blue Jays still scoreless, the Cardinals had the kind of formula they needed. Scratch out a run, ride the starter, shorten the game and let the bullpen protect it.

But one run is a dangerous way to live.

The Blue Jays tied it in the sixth.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached, and Kazuma Okamoto drove a double to deep left field, scoring Guerrero and evening the game at 1-1. Leahy kept the inning from getting worse, but the lead was gone.

Still, the game was there.

A 1-1 score on the road in the late innings is not a disaster. It is a chance. But it requires the offense to find another run, and the Cardinals never did.

That is what made the eighth inning hurt.

The Cardinals had already let several quiet innings go by after Walker’s RBI single. The lineup had not built on the lead. The top of the order had not created much. The middle of the order had not delivered the extra-base hit that could have changed the game.

Toronto finally did.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays put together the inning St. Louis could not. Daulton Varsho and George Springer came around to score when Urías singled to shallow left field, pushing Toronto ahead 3-1.

That was the game.

Not officially.

But it felt that way.

The Cardinals did not have enough offense left to answer.

That has been the trouble with this team during this stretch. Every mistake feels magnified because the offense is not giving the pitching staff enough cushion. A starter allows one run in six innings, and it still is not enough. A single late inning becomes the difference because the Cardinals are asking their staff to win games with almost no margin.

Leahy deserved better.

He was not dominant in the loud, overpowering sense, but he was effective. He kept Toronto to one run over six innings, allowed six hits, walked one and struck out three. He gave the Cardinals exactly what they needed from a road starter.

The Blue Jays simply got the next big hit.

The Cardinals did not.

Offensively, St. Louis had very little to work with. Church had two of the Cardinals’ four hits and scored the only run. Walker drove him in. Alec Burleson had the other hit and also drew a walk. Wetherholt walked but went hitless. Iván Herrera was held hitless. Lars Nootbaar, Masyn Winn, José Fermín and Jimmy Crooks were also kept quiet.

That is not enough production.

Not against Cease.

Not on the road.

Not for a team trying to prove it still belongs in the National League Wild Card race.

The Cardinals are now back in the hard part of their season, where every loss feels like it carries more weight because the trade deadline is no longer some distant marker on the calendar. It is here. The front office is watching. The standings are being watched. The roster is being judged.

And games like this make the questions louder.

Can this team score enough?

Can the Cardinals win enough low-scoring games to stay alive?

Can they keep talking about the Hunt for a Red October when the offense keeps disappearing for long stretches?

Friday night did not provide encouraging answers.

The Cardinals came into Toronto needing to turn the page after losing three of four to the Cubs at Busch Stadium. They were coming off another frustrating extra-inning loss Thursday afternoon, a game where they had hits but not enough finish.

This one was different in shape, but not in result.

The Cardinals did not pile up 10 hits and leave the ballpark angry about all the runners stranded. They simply did not create enough. Four hits. One run. Eleven strikeouts. That leaves almost no room for error.

The pitching staff kept the game close.

The offense left it there.

Cease deserves credit. He was sharp. He made big pitches. He kept the Cardinals from stringing together much of anything. Toronto’s bullpen followed him and finished the job, holding St. Louis scoreless the rest of the way.

But from the Cardinals’ side, the frustration is obvious.

This club cannot keep wasting starts like this.

Leahy gave St. Louis six innings of one-run ball. That should travel. That should play anywhere. That should give a team a real chance to win, especially in a game that remained tied into the eighth inning.

Instead, the Cardinals let another one slide away.

Toronto did not overpower St. Louis.

The Blue Jays simply got the swing that mattered.

Okamoto tied the game in the sixth. Urías won it in the eighth. The Cardinals’ only answer was Walker’s single in the fifth.

That was not enough.

Now the Cardinals have to regroup quickly, with Quinn Mathews expected to make his major-league debut Saturday in Toronto. That start will bring plenty of attention, and rightfully so. Mathews has earned the opportunity, and the Cardinals need a lift.

But they also need runs.

A debut can create excitement. It cannot fix an offense by itself.

The Cardinals still have to hit.

They still have to finish innings.

They still have to stop wasting the kind of pitching performances that should lead to wins.

Friday night was another missed chance. Leahy gave them a quality start. Walker gave them an early lead. Church reached twice and scored. But the lineup did not do enough before Toronto finally broke through late.

The Blue Jays beat the Cardinals 3-1.

And once again, the Cardinals walked away from a game they had enough pitching to win.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Kyle Leahy, St. Louis Louis Cardinals  | MLB