Cardinals lose after Helsley’s 3rd blown save of home stand

Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan (33) fields a ground ball during a game against the Blue Jays on Monday, June 9, 2025, at Busch Stadium.

Eli Randolph, Post-Dispatch

It took the Cardinals a span of three pitches to obliterate what Toronto created in eight innings.

It took Toronto just two innings to seize it all back – and more.

A stirring, sudden comeback in the eighth inning slipped away from the Cardinals in the ninth and 10th. The first home run of the season from the No. 9 hitter Jonatan Clase tied the game, and catcher Alejandro Kirk won the game in the 10th with his fourth hit of the evening. Kirk’s RBI double to score the spontaneously generated baserunner in extra innings sent Toronto to a 5-4 victory at Busch Stadium just two innings after the Cardinals claimed a lead on a dramatic home run.

Ryan Helsley’s third blown save of the home stand misplaced that one-run lead in the ninth, and the Cardinals could not answer in extras, even with the head start of a runner at second base to open the 10th.

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With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cardinals had yet to score a run, had yet to fashion much offense at all against the visiting Blue Jays and their starter Jose Berrios, and then lightning struck, twice. Willson Contreras drilled an RBI single, and two pitches Ivan Herrera catapulted a three-run homer. In two swings, the Cardinals reversed the score, flipping a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead just in time for closer Helsley.

Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn sparked the rally with a walk and single against a lefty reliever. Contreras’ single and Herrera’s seventh homer of the season came against right-hander Yariel Rodriguez.

Two batters into the ninth, Toronto had a tie.

Clase drilled a solo homer off Helsley’s 97.8-mph fastball for a 4-4 game and the Cardinals’ All-Star closers third blown save in the past week. The homer as Clase’s first of the season.

In the first two innings of the game, the Blue Jays scored two two-out runs on Andre Pallante to take the lead that Berrios would protect for the entirety of his 6 2/3 innings.

Kirk added to the lead with the third of his four hits in the game. Kirk tagged a pitch in the eighth inning to straight-away center field that outfielder Scott gave chase. The Cardinals’ speedy center fielder jumped to catch the liner near the wall, and the ball glanced off his glove and over the wall. The solo homer increased the Jays’ lead to 3-0.

The Cardinals had yet to beat Berrios in his five starts against them. Whether it was for the Twins or the Jays, Berrios was 3-0 with a 3.16 ERA in 31 1/3 innings against the Cardinals. He continued that mastery by facing one over the minimum through three innings. Berrios only struck out one Cardinal throughout the game, but got a steady stream of popups and fly balls to keep them from sustaining any offense.

A double chased him from the game in the seventh.

But it wasn’t until the eighth that he watched his win vanish in Herrera’s vapor trail.

Contact pitcher meets contact lineup

The question going into the game was not whether there would be baseballs in play – that was a given – but how many of them would be within range of a glove?

The Blue Jays arrived in St. Louis with the lowest strikeout rate in the majors and the highest line-drive rate, and pitching against them in Game 1 of the series was the top groundball-getting starting pitcher in the majors. A contact-greedy lineup was about to face a contact-inviting starter.

Let the fielders give chase.

The numbers did not line.

Within his first six pitches, Pallante had collected two outs on groundballs and allowed one single to left field. He was five batters, three hits, and two groundouts into the game when the Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead on George Springer’s double. The damage happened fast and predictably. The Jays started the game with an 18.1% strikeout rate, and Pallante didn’t get strikeout until the third inning. Toronto’s lineup edged the Dodgers’ for the league-leading 21.1% line-drive rate, and sure enough line drives darted through Pallante’s first three innings.

Ernie Clemente hit one for a double with one out in the second inning. He advanced to third on a groundout – what else? – and then scored when Bo Bichette hit one where they ain’t for an RBI single.

Ten batters into the game, Pallante had five outs on the ground and the Blue Jays had two runs scored on balls lined to the outfield.

Pallante gets grounded

The Cardinals’ right-hander navigated around a double and a catcher’s interference call in the third inning, and he gathered momentum from there. The balls that found outfield in the early innings couldn’t escape infield dirt in the middle innings.

Before his homer in the eighth inning widened Toronto’s lead, catcher Kirk singled and doubled in his first two swings on Pallante.

He grounded out in his third.

The choppy start smoothed into a quality start for Pallante, and he retired 11 of 12 to earn the opportunity to start the seventh inning. An infield hit – by a team with the fewest infield hits in the majors – chased Pallante one batter into the inning. Reliever Riley O’Brien got a fortuitous liner – from the line-drive lineup – that Willson Contreras turned into a double play and erased the one runner left behind by Pallante.

In six innings, Pallante allowed two runs and scattered seven hits. He struck out three and 13 of his 18 outs came on the ground.

Lefty trap?

In the back third of the lineup, manager Oliver Marmol stacked three left-handed batters, and with Lars Nootbaar at leadoff that put four consecutive left-handed batters right there for a matchup, if Toronto wanted it. The Cardinals invited – dared? – the Blue Jays to deploy a lefty reliever, suggesting they had a counterpunch in mind.

The Cardinals have cycled through right-handed bats for the bench, starting the year with Luken Baker as an option and getting prospect Thomas Saggese for a spell earlier this year. Ryan Vilade is the current right-handed option, and his presence on the roster is in part because of his ability to be a right-handed-hitting outfielder while Jordan Walker is on the injured list.

When Alec Burleson stretched a line drive into a double to knock Berrios from the game, Toronto made the first move.

Three lefties were due up.

The Jays chose lefty Brendon Little to replace Berrios.

The Cardinals answered with Vilade as a pinch-hitter for Nolan Gorman, a left-handed batter. With two outs and Burleson on second base, Vilade struck out on three pitches. That left Little in to face the next two left-handed batters as well. The matchup tilted toward Toronto, but not entirely the results. Not at first.

Scott walked and Winn singled against Little. That gave left-handed-hitting Brendan Donovan a crack at Little. He struck out on Little’s last pitch.

The Cardinals scored their first run two pitches later.

They had the lead two pitches after that.

Photos: St. Louis Cardinals come up short against Toronto Blue Jays