3 Takeaways From Blue Jays Series Split In St. Louis

Breaking down the Toronto Blue Jays' needed offensive outburst and two-game series split against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn't clear where the ball would land, but Paul Goldschmidt ended Monday's game as soon as the pitch hit the bat.

With a walk-off grand slam, Goldschmidt and the Cardinals finished off a familiar heartbreak for the Blue Jays in the series opener. Toronto left nine runners on base, burned a strong starting pitching performance, and left no room for error in the bullpen.

But on Tuesday, the Jays flipped the script, re-finding the bats for the first time in a while and backing up their starter for a rare easy win. While Toronto’s trip to Missouri started sour, they leave with plenty of positives. Here are three takeaways from the Blue Jays series split in St. Louis:

An Offensive Outburst To Build On

The Blue Jays have been waiting for that big hit for almost a month. They missed it on Monday, hitting 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position before watching Goldschmidt find his own big blast, walking off Toronto in the 10th.

But on Tuesday, the Jays finally got the needed knock. And then they got another. And another.

Danny Jansen started the smash fest in the fourth, battling with St. Louis starter Jordan Hicks and fouling his way to a good pitch. Turning on a hanging slider, Jansen crushed the mistake into the left-field bleachers. After Tuesday's win, Jansen his slashing .310/.375/1.237 in his first 11 games this year.

With a little help from the Busch Stadium lights, George Springer kept the rally going with a no-out triple in the sixth. Then Vladimir Guerrero Jr. smashed his first extra-base hit in 19 days over the wall and Jansen added his second homer of the night an inning later to ice it.

While the hard hits and Jansen's four RBI powered the offense, Tuesday's runs were built on swing selection, with the Jays chasing just five pitches from the effectively wild Jordan Hicks. Toronto took their walks all series, recording eight on Tuesday and six the game prior, but found a way to cash them on Tuesday by keeping the swings inside the zone.

Toronto's swings (left) vs takes (right) on Tuesday against St. Louis starter Jordan Hicks / Baseball Savant

The Jays finished with their most hits since April 29th (12) and eight walks, too. Even still, Toronto hit 2-for-14 with RISP and left 12 runners stranded. Offensive woes aren't solved overnight, but Tuesday's outburst earned the Jays a series split and something to build on heading to Los Angeles.

Gausman Strong Without His Best

A night after José Berríos struck out the side in the first inning of his St. Louis start, Kevin Gausman's first frame wasn't as smooth.

With free passes to Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, Gausman solidified his first multi-walk outing of the season before getting his third out. It took the righty 26 pitches to navigate the scoreless first inning, pulling pitches to his glove side and leaving fastballs exposed in the zone.

Gausman entered Tuesday riding consecutive losses, but after shaking early rust, Toronto's splitter specialist reset and battled. The pitch count continued to climb in the next two innings, but Gausman managed to strand all four Cardinal baserunners in the opening three frames.

In the fifth, he fell into unfamiliar territory, dropping into a 3-0 count against St. Louis’ Brendan Donovan. With four fastballs in a row, the righty re-took control of the at-bat, forcing takes and foul-offs before snatching a bounced come-backer to finish the inning. 

As the game went on, the splitter got nastier, the fastballs continued to work ahead, and Gausman's largely two-pitch deception rounded back into the form we've gotten used to. After a shaky first frame, Gausman finished the start with six shutout innings, allowing just six St. Louis baserunners while striking out eight. 

Kevin Gausman, Dirty 85mph Splitter. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/CbfMd9wnU2

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 25, 2022

Espinal Earns His Way Up

Santiago Espinal’s success this season has been well documented. He’s leading all second basemen in WAR and has been a shining beacon of reliability amid a foggy Blue Jays lineup.

He’s hit in six different spots in the lineup in 2022, and though the top of Toronto’s batting order has been fairly constant, Espinal was moved into the two-hole to jumpstart things in St. Louis.

Espinal's 16-game hit streak ended on Tuesday, but he finished the two-game series reaching base three times and added an RBI in both games. Though in a small sample size, Espinal has hit .375 with an OPS nearing 1.000 when he’s slated in the top half of Toronto’s lineup in his career. With Toronto's offense finding form for a game with Espinal in the two-hole, he might get some run there moving forward.