By Canadian Press

Pujols leads Cardinals past Blue Jays 6-1, makes St. Louis history

Jul 27, 2022 | 8:31 PM

TORONTO — Albert Pujols had a three-run homer and made Cardinals’ history as St. Louis beat the Blue Jays 6-1 on Wednesday to snap Toronto’s seven-game win streak.

The likely Hall of Famer singled in the second inning, doubled in the fourth, and homered in the fifth to surpass Rogers Hornsby for fourth on the Cardinals’ all-time hits list. Pujols has a total of 2,112 hits for St. Louis.

Nolan Gorman added a solo home run for the Cardinals (52-47), while Dylan Carlson and Lars Nootbaar drove in runs with base hits.

Adam Wainwright (7-8) was dominant for St. Louis, striking out eight and allowing five hits over seven innings of one-run ball. Relievers Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley combined for two scoreless innings.

Bo Bichette’s RBI single was all the offence Toronto (54-44) would muster.

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Kevin Gausman (7-8) struck out six but gave up eight hits and a walk for five runs over 4 2/3 innings. Trevor Richards, Jeremy Beasley, Anthony Banda, and David Phelps came on in relief, with Richards allowing a run.

Pujols got a warm ovation from the 36,666 in attendance at Rogers Centre for the second consecutive day. The 42-year-old Pujols spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Cardinals before a stint with the Los Angeles Angels and their intercity rivals, the Dodgers. When he re-signed with St. Louis in March, he announced that 2022 would be his final season in Major League Baseball.

Carlson opened the scoring in the third inning, bouncing a double into deep right-centre field. His hit drove Gorman across home plate for a 1-0 St. Louis lead.

Nootbaar added to that lead in the next inning with a double up the first-base line. Brendan Donovan scored on the hit before Nootbaar was thrown out to end the top of the fourth.

Bichette chipped away at the Cardinals’ lead in the bottom of the inning with a single bringing home Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The burly slugger had put himself in scoring position by stealing second base, his first of the season and only his second attempt.

St. Louis broke the game wide open with a four-run fifth inning.

Gorman led off the fifth inning with a solo home run, launching the ball 412 feet to re-establish the Cardinals’ two-run lead. Five hitters later Pujols came up to the plate, crushing the ball 439 feet to score Andrew Knizner and Tyler O’Neill for a 6-1 St. Louis lead.

Although it was just Pujols’s seventh homer of the season, it was the 686th of his career.

ROGERS CENTRE RENOS — Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro will unveil new plans for renovations to Rogers Centre on Thursday afternoon. The downtown Toronto ballpark first opened in 1989 and has had several improvements made to it over the past 30 years.

TRADE DEADLINE — Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins spoke with media ahead of Wednesday’s game and acknowledged that Toronto would be interested in acquiring another pitcher. Both the bullpen and the rotation could use extra arms, especially after starter Hyun-Jin Ryu’s season-ending Tommy John surgery. Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is Tuesday.

NEXT UP — Yusei Kikuchi (3-5) gets the start as Toronto hosts the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of a four-game series. Kikuchi is coming off the 15-day injured list after missing time with a strained neck. Tyler Alexander (2-3) will take the mound for Detroit. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2022.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press