St. Louis Cardinals at Toronto Blue Jays

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
STL	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	5	8	1
TOR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	5	1

St. Louis sent Matthew Liberatore (5-8, 4.97 ERA) to the mound looking to salvage the finale, while Toronto countered with Max Scherzer (1-4, 7.92 ERA), who's been fighting his way through a brutal stretch all year. Neither name screams ace right now, and this game played like it for eight innings before St. Louis blew it open.

Show fees

FINAL

Spread

ML

Total

Cardinals(55-57)

WLLLW

5

+1.5-174+120o9.5+141

Blue Jays(52-60)

LWWWL

1

-1.5+170-122u9.5-141

Best BetCardinals -103

Postgame

The Cardinals won outright 5-1, cashing this pick clean. The case leaned on Scherzer's ugly season-long numbers being the bigger factor than St. Louis's slump, and a 4-run 9th inning proved exactly that — the bats we worried about showed up right when it counted.

Pregame

St. Louis is live underdog value here even after dropping the first two games of this series. Scherzer's 9.49 ERA and repeated short outings make him a legitimate liability on the mound, and Liberatore doesn't need to be great to take advantage of a Blue Jays rotation spot that's been a revolving door of trouble.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol gave Jordan Walker a break from the outfield for this one, sliding him to DH and starting Lars Nootbaar in right — a small tweak after Walker went 3-for-9 with an RBI through the first two games of the series. Toronto, meanwhile, came in having won 3 straight and looking for its first home sweep since the season's opening series, with a beat-up rotation and outfield (Berrios, Ponce, Francis and Corbin all out, plus Barger and Santander shelved) forcing manager John Schneider to lean hard on whoever's healthy.

Matthew Liberatore

(5-10)·5.07 ERA

Jul 27 vs Cubs

L

3.2IP

3ER

5K

2BB

67P

08/02 Lineup

Max Scherzer

(1-5)·6.59 ERA

Jul 27 @ Nationals

ND

2.2IP

1ER

4K

3BB

75P

08/02 Lineup

St. Louis had been mired in one of the worst offensive months in franchise history — an NL-worst July that buried a lineup that looked solid through the first week of the month. This game looked like more of the same for a long stretch: one run through 8 innings, nothing else going. Then the bats woke up all at once.

St. Louis Cardinals

(55-57)

Aug 2W@ Blue Jays5-1

Aug 1L@ Blue Jays1-5

Jul 31L@ Blue Jays1-3

Jul 30Lvs Cubs2-4

Jul 29Wvs Cubs3-2

Toronto Blue Jays

(52-60)

Aug 2Lvs Cardinals1-5

Aug 1Wvs Cardinals5-1

Jul 31Wvs Cardinals3-1

Jul 29W@ Nationals5-2

Jul 28L@ Nationals6-8

A 4-run 9th turned a nail-biter into a laugher, and it was exactly the kind of outburst St. Louis hasn't been able to find for most of the last month. Toronto's lone run came in the 8th, too little and too late against a bullpen that finally didn't buckle in the moment it mattered.

St. Louis Cardinals

(3)

• 15-Day-ILJoJo Romero (RP) — The Cardinals do not expect Romero (appendicitis) to be ready for activation from the 15-day injured list when first eligible, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.07/19
• 60-Day-ILRamon Urias (3B) — Urias' (elbows) rehab assignment has been paused after he was hit on the elbow by a pitch at Triple-A Memphis on Sunday, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.07/30
• 60-Day-ILMax Rajcic (RP) — Rajcic revealed on his Instagram account Thursday that he recently underwent a right elbow UCL reconstruction.07/23

Toronto Blue Jays

(10)

• 10-Day-ILLenyn Sosa (2B) — Sosa (wrist) will resume taking live batting practice this week, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.07/27
• 10-Day-ILJonatan Clase (LF) — Clase (foot) isn't in the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Rays.07/22
• 15-Day-ILPatrick Corbin (SP) — The Blue Jays placed Corbin on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a left teres major strain.07/23
• 60-Day-ILJoe Mantiply (RP) — Mantiply (knee) has resumed throwing bullpen sessions, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.07/27
• 60-Day-ILYimi Garcia (RP) — Garcia (elbow/neck/biceps) has been pulled off his rehab assignment and will be examined by a doctor for possible thoracic outlet syndrome, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.07/27
• 60-Day-ILAddison Barger (RF) — Barger is expected to be sidelined six months following surgery Monday to repair his right elbow UCL, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.07/27
• 60-Day-ILAnthony Santander (RF) — Santander is still dealing with discomfort in his surgically repaired left shoulder and recently received another cortisone shot, Keegan Matheson of MLB.com reports.07/17
• 60-Day-ILJose Berrios (SP) — Blue Jays manager John Schneider said that Berrios underwent full Tommy John surgery Wednesday in addition to having a stress fracture repaired, Hazel Mae of Sportsnet reports.05/27
• 60-Day-ILCody Ponce (SP) — Ponce underwent surgery Friday to repair the ACL in his right knee, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet.ca reports.05/08
• 60-Day-ILBowden Francis (SP) — The Blue Jays placed Francis (elbow) on the 60-day injured list Wednesday.05/08

Both rosters are banged up in ways that shape who's actually available — Toronto is without three starting pitchers for the year and has been piecing together its outfield, while St. Louis is missing bullpen depth with Rajcic and Romero both out. Against that backdrop, a series finale that looked like a formality for Toronto turned into a reminder that even a slumping team can still find one big inning.

The Cardinals leave Toronto having avoided the sweep and snapped a stretch where they'd dropped 6 of 7. Whether it's a real turning point or a one-game blip against a shorthanded Jays roster is the question St. Louis takes into its next series.