The Toronto Blue Jays will look for right-hander Yariel Rodriguez to show continued improvement when they bid for a three-game sweep of the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon.
The Blue Jays (71-78) followed a 4-3 victory in 11 innings on Friday with a 7-2 win over the Cardinals (74-74) on Saturday.
Rodriguez allowed one run on two hits with six strikeouts over five innings on Sept. 8 against the host Atlanta Braves in his most recent game. He received a no-decision after the Blue Jays lost 4-3 in 11 innings.
Rodriguez (1-6, 4.42 ERA) will face St. Louis for the first time.
“I’ve learned this year that in between outings you really have to work and stay ready and prepare yourself with recovery,” Rodriguez said. “It’s something that I’m carrying over to next year to start the year with a lot of energy, and try to pitch (well) and help my team win some games.”
St. Louis is scheduled to start right-hander Miles Mikolas (8-11, 5.55 ERA) on Sunday. He has a 7.20 ERA without recording a decision in two career starts against Toronto.
Mikolas will try to rebound from a stretch of eight starts in which he is 0-3 with a 7.23 ERA.
He is coming off a two-inning outing on Sept. 8 in a 10-4 loss to the visiting Seattle Mariners. He allowed seven runs (six earned) and nine hits.
“He’s a strike thrower,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “There’s days he’s going to get hit, and there’s days those are going to be at people. Just didn’t have the ability to execute and get some of his pitches glove-side the way he wanted to, and they ran back over the plate, and they hit it hard.”
Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 1-for-3 with an RBI single on Saturday. It was his 500th career RBI as he became the youngest Blue Jay to reach that mark. He is the 12th player in franchise history — and fifth fastest at 806 games — to reach 500 RBIs. He has 96 RBIs for the season.
“This year he’s separated himself and been on a different level offensively,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “He’s a really good hitter who understands how to drive in runs.”
Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios allowed one run and two hits in seven innings on Saturday to win his seventh consecutive start and reach a career-best 16 wins for the season. He has a 1.51 ERA during his seven-game winning streak.
Roy Halladay has the most consecutive winning starts in franchise history with 11 in 2003.
Blue Jays left fielder Joey Loperfido left Saturday’s game after the fourth inning because of left adductor discomfort.
Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado suffered an insect sting in the bottom of the eighth and left for a pinch hitter in the ninth. There was swelling, but he is expected to play on Sunday.
“A bee flew near my ear, I wiped it with my glove,” Arenado said. “I thought it was gone, I put my glove on and got stung. It got stuck in my glove, and it stung me on my pinkie. When I pulled my hand out after it stung me, the stinger was on my finger.”
Toronto outfielder Daulton Varsho (shoulder) is listed as day-to-day. Infielder Leo Jimenez (finger contusion) was a late scratch from the starting lineup on Saturday.
–Field Level Media