Pinch hitter Luis Urias snapped a tie with a two-run single in the eighth inning Friday night and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 3-1.
Brandon Valenzuela was 3-for-4 for the Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series.
Jeff Hoffman (6-7) threw a perfect eighth with two strikeouts to earn the win.
Louis Varland pitched around a single in the ninth to earn his 24th save in 24 opportunities this season.
Nathan Church had two hits and a stolen base for the Cardinals, who started a six-game road trip.
Toronto starter Dylan Cease got out of trouble following a leadoff double in the fourth, but Church’s leadoff single in the fifth led to a run. Church stole second and took third on a groundout. JJ Wetherholt walked with two outs and Jordan Walker looped an RBI single to center.
St. Louis starter Kyle Leahy gave up consecutive two-out singles in the bottom of the fifth before getting Nathan Lukes to fly out and end the threat.
Cease went six innings and allowed one run, three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.
Toronto tied the score in the sixth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off with a double off the wall in left-center and scored on Kazuma Okamoto’s double to the left field corner.
Leahy gave up one run, six hits and one walk with three strikeouts in six innings.
Toronto’s Spencer Miles bounced back for three straight outs after allowing a leadoff single to Church in the seventh.
In the bottom half, Cardinals reliever Justin Bruihl allowed a one-out single to Valenzuela and an infield hit to Andres Gimenez on a chopper that first baseman Alec Burleson fumbled. Peter Strzelecki (0-1) replaced Bruihl and plunked pinch hitter Myles Straw with a pitch to load the bases before Guerrero grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Strzelecki walked George Springer and Daulton Varsho with one out in the home eighth. He was replaced by Gordon Graceffo, who walked Ernie Clement to load the bases. That’s when Urias came through and grounded his two-run single to left.
Toronto’s Jesus Sanchez returned from a sprained right ankle to get the start in left field Friday and Yohendrick Pinango was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. Sanchez was 0-for-2 before leaving for a pinch hitter.
