TORONTO — Their slim lead gone and their offense kept contained to the one run Lars Nootbaar produced in the third inning, the St. Louis Cardinals found a way in the ninth inning on Sunday at Rogers Centre to avoid a sweep by stringing together enough hits to produce the run they needed.

Tied 1-1 after the Blue Jays erased the lead provided by Nootbaar's single, the Cardinals received a go-ahead run in the ninth inning on a single Jose Fermin hit to center field off Toronto's All-Star reliever Louis Varland

The RBI from Fermin lifted the Cardinals to 2-1. And a throwing error with two outs by second baseman Luis Urias allowed the Cardinals to tack on three additional runs as they salvaged a three-game series in Toronto with a 5-1 win.

The ninth-inning awakening started with a walk by Masyn Winn. The spark came after a 1-0 lead disappeared two outs into the eighth inning with George Soriano on the mound.

Soriano allowed Andress Gimenez to single with two outs and two strikes in the count to keep the Blue Jays' half of the eighth inning alive. Gimenez stole second base during the next at-bat and raced to home moments later on a double Urias hit into the left-field corner to tie the game at 1-1.

The ninth inning production ensured Matthew Liberatore's sharp start would come in a winning effort even though it did not earn the lefty a win.

Liberatore lasted six innings, totaled seven strikeouts and one walk on 85 pitches. The only hit Liberatore allowed in his six innings came with one out in the second inning on a grounder that didn’t leave the infield.

He retired the next 13 batters. The streak snapped with a two-out walk to leadoff hitter Urias. The free pass brought Vladimir Guerrero Jr. up to face Liberatore for a third time after the lefty retired him with strikeouts in each of his first two at-bats.

Liberatore punctuated his outing with a third one of Guerrero to end his start. The scoreless game he started was preserved by Ryne Stanek's scoreless eighth inning.

The win was secured by Riley O'Brien, who entered in a non-save situation. His inning allowed the Cardinals (55-57) to end a four-game skid.

Collecting K’s early

Against one of the toughest teams in the majors to strike out, Liberatore collected his strikeouts early and often.

The left-hander began his outing with three strikeouts against the first three batters he faced. He added another one to his pitching line in the third inning and got two more in the fourth. The collection of strikeouts included four against the Blue Jays’ top hitters.

Liberatore opened the game with a five-pitch sequence that ended with a swing and miss of Urias on a 2-2 curveball that broke below the strike zone. He got Guerrero to whiff on a 2-2 fastball dotted at 95.5 mph and then struck out Kazuma Okamoto on six pitches. That at-bat ended with Liberatore freezing Okamoto with a 95.5 mph fastball at the bottom of the strike zone.

After the Blue Jays’ lineup reached Guerrero’s spot to start the fourth inning, Liberatore got Toronto’s slugger into an 0-2 count two pitches into their encounter. He threw Guerrero a slider low and in for a called third strike that Guerrero challenged. The ABS Challenge confirmed the pitch clipped the strike zone. Two at-bats later, Liberatore went back to the slider for a strikeout.

That time, he got George Springer to chase a 2-2 slider that was blocked in the dirt by catcher Ivan Herrera.

Stanek escapes seventh

Called in from the bullpen to begin the seventh, Stanek began his relief appearance by getting Okamoto to ground out and then had the inning complicated with a triple from Springer.

The triple put the potential game-tying run 90 feet away with Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement looming.

Stanek relieved some pressure in the inning by getting Kirk, a former All-Star, to strike out on a foul tip of a fastball that reached 97.5 mph. The strikeout brought up Clement, a .292 hitter and All-Star this season. He blazed a sinker at 98.2 mph that Clement fouled off for strike one, then used his slider to get the Blue Jays infielder in a 1-2 count.

One strike away from leaving the inning, Stanek got Clement to hit a towering pop-up behind home plate on a 1-2 fastball that reached 98.6 mph. Herrera managed to stick with the pop to finish the inning.

Scherzer gets his way

Scherzer was able to talk his way into getting a shot to finish the sixth inning when Blue Jays manager John Schneider went out for a mound visit with one out in the frame. The likely future Hall of Famer followed through with the opportunity.

With the Blue Jays’ bullpen already stirring and runners on first and second and one out, Scherzer needed seven pitches to escape the situation.

He started Herrera with a curveball that got Herrera to fish below the strike zone. He then had a fastball hit sharply to center field for a lineout that retired Herrera and allowed Jordan Walker to tag up to third base.

Against Winn, the Parkway Central high school graduate worked Winn into a 1-2 count with a called strike on a slider and a 94-mph fastball that was fouled off. He got help from Kirk on a changeup that bounced in the dirt to even the count to 2-2. Kirk blocked the changeup and kept it in front of him, which allowed Alec Burleson to move up to second but kept Walker at third base.

Scherzer reached back for another slider to Winn with the count 2-2. He coaxed a softly hit grounder that he fielded and flipped to first base for the inning’s third out.

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