Cardinals allow Blue Jays to take lead in eighth inning en route to 3-1 loss

Daniel Guerrero, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jul 31, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — The Cardinals managed to escape a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning on Friday night at Rogers Centre, but they could not wiggle their way out of a second one when a similar spot arose in the eighth inning against the Blue Jays.

An inning after Peter Strzelecki got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play to preserve a tied game, Gordon Graceffo allowed pinch-hitter Luis Urias to single home the two runs that left the Cardinals with a 3-1 loss to Toronto.

Graceffo entered with one out and runners on first and second base in the eighth inning. He loaded the bases on a six-pitch walk to Ernie Clement. In the next at-bat, his 0-1 sinker was pulled to left field by Urias, leaving the Cardinals with another slim loss amid a stretch in which runs have been hard to come by.

Facing All-Star starter Dylan Cease, the Cardinals were held to one run and three hits as Cease leaned on a mix that featured mostly his fastball and slider. Those two pitches combined to get 13 whiffs. They were put-away pitches for six of his seven strikeouts.

The lone run they were able to scratch across against Cease came with two outs in the fifth inning on a two-out single Jordan Walker dropped into center field to score Nathan Church from third base after Church reached third with one out.

The light offense left starter Kyle Leahy with little support for his third consecutive quality start and his fifth such start in his previous eight outings.

Leahy limited the Blue Jays to one run as he worked around six hits and a walk. He did not surrender a run until the sixth inning, when back-to-back doubles erased the slim lead he was provided.

Leahy gets help from his defense

With the 1-0 lead wiped away after two doubles scored the Blue Jays one run, Leahy got help on defense to leave the sixth inning with just the one run allowed.

Leahy opened the frame by giving up a double to Guerrero that was rocketed off the left field wall with a 112.4-mph exit velocity and nearly left for his first home run at Rogers Centre this season. That was followed by a double Kazuma Okamoto hit into the left-field corner to score Guerrero.

The righty managed to keep Okamoto on second base with plays from Alec Burleson, JJ Wetherholt and Church.

Burleson was the first of the three fielders to help Leahy in the inning. He snagged a 100.1-mph line drive George Springer hit at him. The line drive had an expected batting average of .630 but instead found Burleson’s glove.

In the next at-bat, Leahy was aided by Wetherholt. On a 100-mph ball off the bat of Daulton Varsho, Wetherholt ranged to his left and picked Varsho’s grounder as it took a high hop that forced Wetherholt to drop to one knee to field it. Wetherholt made a throw from one knee to secure the out.

One out away from preserving a tied game, Leahy got Clement to hit a weak fly ball to left-center field that led to three Cardinals to converge on the ball. Of the three defenders who chased it down, it was Church who dove forward to make the inning-ending catch.

Wetherholt’s walk keeps inning alive

A patient at-bat by Wetherholt proved key in keeping the fifth inning alive long enough for the Cardinals to score the game’s first run and their only run.

Following a leadoff single and a stolen base by Church and a groundout from Jose Fermin that advanced Church to third base, the Cardinals had a runner reach third base for the first time. The opportunity brought up No. 9 hitter Jimmy Crooks to face Cease for a second time after Crooks flew out to right field in the third inning.

The Cardinals’ rookie catcher saw five pitches from Cease in his second at-bat versus Cease. He whiffed at the final two to put the Cardinals one out away from wasting a run-scoring opportunity.

Their chance was prolonged by a hitter with a walk from Wetherholt on four pitches. The walk put runners on the corners for Walker, the Cardinals’ top RBI producer. The All-Star right fielder got the best of the All-Star right fielder as he muscled a 97.8-mph fastball thrown up and in and hit it to center field for a single.

Changing it up on Vladdy

The first stressful situation Leahy needed to work through didn’t surface until the third inning, when he had to face Guerrero with two runners on and two out. The instance marked the first at-bat a Blue Jay had with a runner in scoring position.

Leahy had retired Guerrero in the first inning on a six-pitch sequence where the right-hander showed him four of the six pitches in his arsenal. Flashing the other two helped Leahy silence him once again.

The right-hander welcomed Guerrero to the plate in the third inning by showing him a slider for the first time on Friday night. Leahy placed the slider up and in, leading to a foul ball for strike one. After landing a sinker for a strike and bouncing a curveball in the dirt to try and get Guerrero to chase, Leahy dug into his repertoire for the final pitch he had yet to show Guerrero.

Leahy placed a 91.3 mph change-up at the bottom of the strike zone that got him to ground out to second. The groundout left runners on first and second base to end the inning.