Giménez and Kirk homer to lead Blue Jays past Cardinals, 10-9

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Andrés Giménez and Alejandro Kirk each homered, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 10-9 on Tuesday night.

Chris Bassitt (7-3) gave up four runs on six hits in seven innings for the Blue Jays. Jeff Hoffman got the final out of the game to earn his 17th save in 20 tries despite giving up a three-run homer to Willson Contreras.

The Blue Jays have won 11 of their last 13 and are a league-best 21-10 over their last 31 games.

Miles Mikolas (4-3) allowed six runs on nine hits in five innings, and the Cardinals lost their third straight.

Addison Barger’s RBI double broke a 4-all tie and George Springer followed with a sacrifice fly scoring Bo Bichette to give the Blue Jays a 6-4 lead in the fifth.

Kirk greeted Cardinals reliever Kyle Leahy with a two-run homer to make it 8-4 in the seventh. Giménez added an RBI single and Kirk scored on a wild pitch in the ninth.

Giménez’s blast off Mikolas gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead in the first. It was his first homer since March 31.

Nolan Arenado had an RBI single and Nolan Gorman followed with a three-run homer off Bassitt as the Cardinals tied the game at 4-all in the fourth. Arenado also hit a two-run homer in the eighth.

Key moment

A couple of well-placed hits sparked the Blue Jays’ rally in the fifth. Jonatan Clase got it started with a bloop that fell in shallow center and Barger’s RBI double hit the outfield grass just inches away from the left field foul line.

Key stat

Brendan Donovan was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning to extend his on-base streak against the Blue Jays to 12 games to begin his career.

Up next

The Blue Jays have not announced a starter to go against Cardinals LHP Matthew Liberatore (3-5, 3.82 ERA) in the series finale on Wednesday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb