After a long 11 innings behind the plate, Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk had enough stamina to notch his first career walk-off hit on Friday.
Kirk's long single with the bases loaded provided the Blue Jays (70-78) with a series-opening win against the St. Louis Cardinals (74-73) before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
With the Cardinals outfield in and facing reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5), Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to cap off a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
“You're back there as a catcher for 11 innings, and you're grinding," Toronto manager John Schneider said. "It’s great for him. (Fernandez is) a tough pitcher, good slider, good stinker, good approach.
"So it's always nice when you're battling like that and you're mentally locked in and probably exhausted, that you're the guy to win it."
The Blue Jays loaded the bases after an intentional walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a bunt single from Leo Jimenez.
Will Wagner grounded out to second after a hard-fought 10-pitch at-bat. Kirk watched Wagner's battle from the on-deck circle.
"I saw (Fernandez's) entire repertoire," Kirk said through his interpreter.
"I was looking for something up in the zone. I got a slider up."
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Guerrero also was a big contributor in the series opener. He drove in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall in a three-run fourth inning and made four outstanding defensive plays.
The first gem happened in the seventh inning when he was at third base, snaring a Paul Goldschmidt sharp grounder to catch Masyn Winn with a tag as he retreated to third.
Moving to first for the last few innings, Guerrero made three critical catches on grounders in which he made perfect throws to his pitchers covering the bag.
“He does things not a lot of first baseman can do," Schneider said. "He was kind of on a full display today. But those plays were obviously huge for us."
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win.
On a week's rest, Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder's choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Wagner's diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off the fourth with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes's single and scored on Guerrero's double.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk's two-out single to right.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
