Pujols home run helps Cardinals snap Blue Jays’ 7-game win streak | CBC Sports

Albert Pujols had a three-run homer and made Cardinals’ history as St. Louis beat the Blue Jays 6-1 on Wednesday to snap Toronto’s seven-game win streak.

Nolan Gorman added a solo home run for the Cardinals (52-47), while Dylan Carlson and Lars Nootbaar drove in runs with base hits.

Adam Wainwright (7-8) was dominant for St. Louis, striking out eight and allowing five hits over seven innings of one-run ball. Relievers Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley combined for two scoreless innings.

Bo Bichette’s RBI single was all the offence Toronto (54-44) would muster.

Kevin Gausman (7-8) struck out six but gave up eight hits and a walk for five runs over 4 2/3 innings. Trevor Richards, Jeremy Beasley, Anthony Banda, and David Phelps came on in relief, with Richards allowing a run.

Pujols got a warm ovation from the 36,666 in attendance at Rogers Centre for the second consecutive day. The 42-year-old Pujols spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Cardinals before a stint with the Los Angeles Angels and their intercity rivals, the Dodgers. When he re-signed with St. Louis in March, he announced that 2022 would be his final season in Major League Baseball.

Nootbaar added to that lead in the next inning with a double up the first-base line. Brendan Donovan scored on the hit before Nootbaar was thrown out to end the top of the fourth.

Bichette chipped away at the Cardinals’ lead in the bottom of the inning with a single bringing home Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The burly slugger had put himself in scoring position by stealing second base, his first of the season and only his second attempt.

St. Louis broke the game wide open with a four-run fifth inning.

Gorman led off the fifth inning with a solo home run, launching the ball 412 feet to re-establish the Cardinals’ two-run lead. Five hitters later Pujols came up to the plate, crushing the ball 439 feet to score Andrew Knizner and Tyler O’Neill for a 6-1 St. Louis lead.

Although it was just Pujols’s seventh homer of the season, it was the 686th of his career.