By MATT PIKE
The St. Louis Cardinals are ready for July to be over after a tough month, ending the month falling to the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 at the Rogers Centre.
After the Cardinals sat above .500 for the entire season, until July 28th, the month of July sent the rebuilding Redbird into a downslide. With the loss on Friday, St. Louis lost for the fifth time in six games and the Cardinals went 10-18 in July.
The Cardinals got on the board first in the fifth inning after outfielder Jordan Walker opened the scoring with a two-out RBI single off Dylan Cease, driving in Nathan Church. In the bottom of the sixth, the Blue Jays tied things up when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto started the inning with back-to-back doubles.
Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy exited the game with a quality start, giving up one run and six hits in six innings while walking one and striking out three. Justin Bruihl relieved Leahy in the seventh and got one out, but gave up two hits before being replaced by Peter Strzelecki who hit a batter to load the bases. Strzelecki though got Guerrero to ground into a double play to end the seventh inning threat.
In the eighth inning however, with three straight walks loading the bases, two from Strzelecki and one from Gordon Graceffo, with one out, and Graceffo gave up a two RBI single to Luis Urías that broke the eighth-inning tie. Strzelecki was charged with the loss, throwing one inning and giving up the two runs with two walks, falling to 0-1 on the season.
At the plate, Church was 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base. Alec Burleson was 1-for-3 with a double. Walker was 1-for-4 with an RBI, while Masyn Winn had the only other Cardinals hit on the day, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
St. Louis and Toronto continue their series tomorrow. Quinn Matthews, the Cardinals No. 7 prospect, is expected to make his major league debut against Kevin Gausman (4-10, 4.51 ERA, 123K's) for the Blue Jays. First pitch is at 2:05pm, coverage begins at 1:55 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
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