Sept. 14 – St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Kyle Gibson aims to build on last season’s success against the host Toronto Blue Jays in the midfield game of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon.
He will face right-hander Jose Berrios, who will try to win his seventh straight and add to his career-best win total.
The Cardinals (74-73) will need to find timely hits if they are to take advantage of good pitching. They were 2 for 19 with runners on base but lost 4-3 in 11 innings to the Blue Jays in Friday’s series opener.
Cardinals head coach Olivier Marmor acknowledged Toronto’s (70-78) defensive performance, but added, “We had a chance … when you’re 2 for 19 from scoring position, you don’t deserve to win.”
Gibson (8-6, 4.20 ERA) went 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays as a member of the Baltimore Orioles last season. The Cardinals signed him as a free agent in the offseason.
Gibson has started 14 career games against the Blue Jays and is 8-2 with a 4.15 ERA. He went 4-1 with a 4.29 ERA in six starts in Toronto, but is 4-0 in his four starts in Canada since 2017, with an ERA of 1.75.
Berrios (15-9, 3.52 ERA) has made four career starts against St. Louis and is 2-0 with a 3.70 ERA. His record is 9-2 with a 2.81 ERA in 13 home starts this season. In his last six games through Aug. 9, he is 6-0 with a 1.55 ERA.
Gibson is part of the Cardinals’ current six-man rotation, leaving former Blue Jays left-hander Steven Matz in the mix for now. Matz warmed up in the bullpen during Friday’s game.
“This time around, we wanted to give Lance (Lynn) some more time to see how he comes out of it,” Marmor said. “Along with (Andre) Pallant, I feel like he’s one of our most consistent guys. It’s important for him and the team to continue to see that and develop.
“So it puts Matz in a tough spot for now, but if anything happens, we have a really good weapon to plug into.”
Cardinals second baseman Thomas Sarkis has been impressive since making his major league debut on Tuesday.
Sarkis got his first two big league hits and an RBI on Thursday before hitting his first home run in the eighth inning on Friday, tying the game 3-3.
“We lost, so I thought about it more, but in that moment it was good to tie the game,” Saggis said.
Sarkis made a couple of big plays with an RBI on a fielder’s choice in the first inning.
However, his defense was overshadowed by Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had a nice blast to third base performance that would have saved the win after moving to first base late in the game and making two more good plays. He also hit an RBI double.
“He was outstanding today,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “These plays obviously mean a lot to us.”
Guerrero was intentionally walked in the 11th inning. Alejandro Kirk won the game with an RBI single, the first walk-off hit of his career. Kirk also had a run-scoring single in the fourth quarter.
Toronto is 18-26 this season. St. Louis improved by one point to 27-19.
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