Quinn Mathews surrendered just six hits and two earned runs in five-plus innings, but he got little run support from his new Cardinals teammates in a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays. The 25-year-old Mathews induced 12 swings and misses and recorded three strikeouts.
Quinn Mathews handled the emotions of making his MLB debut, and he handled a stacked Blue Jays lineup for the most part. However, he got little help from his new Cardinals teammates from an offensive standpoint and that kept the club's season-souring slide continuing.
Mathews, 25, allowed just two runs and six hits over five-plus innings of work, but the struggling Cardinals offense gave him just one run of support in a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays at sold-out Rogers Center.
Mixing his four-seam fastball with a hard-biting slider, a diving changeup and a curveball used as a change of pace, Mathews limited Toronto to just four hard-hit balls in his first MLB game while striking out three. The 6-foot-5, 188-pound Mathews got 12 swings and misses – five of them on his fastball and three more with his slider. He threw 38 four-seam fastballs, 23 sliders, 17 changeups, 13 curveballs and six sinkers.
The Jays added three runs in the seventh inning against struggling reliever Luis Gastelum.
For the Cardinals, the culprits for their 12th loss in the 16 games since the break for the MLB All-Star Game was familiar. It was the 17th time in the past 25 games that the Cards scored three runs of fewer in the game. The Cards did rack up 11 hits – eight of them mostly harmless singles – but they went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11. Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson and Blaze Jordan had two hits in the game.
The Cardinals had to be happy to see the calendar flip to August after the miserable month that they had at the plate in July. In 28 games over the 31 days of July, the Cardinals ranked 15th in batting average (.216) in the National League, 15th in on-base percentage (.285), 15th in slugging (.328), 15th in OPS (.613), 11th in runs (110) and tied for 15th in home runs (22).
Things didn’t dramatically improve on Saturday against veteran starting pitcher Kevin Gausman, who came into the day riding a seven-game losing streak – a skid that dated to May 22. Gausman did surrender nine hits, but he limited the Cards to just one run while striking out four.
The Cardinals lost their eighth straight game to the Blue Jays over the past two-plus seasons -- a skid that dates to April 2, 2023.
Mathews hit the big leagues riding a hot streak
The Cardinals made the promotion of Mathews official on Saturday morning. They designated former top prospect Tink Hence for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Mathews. Also, they optioned struggling reliever Matt Svanson to Triple-A Memphis to make room on the 26-man active roster.
Mathews, 25, made it to the big leagues by going 4-0 with a 1.55 ERA over a nine-start stretch in June and July. During that stretch, he struck out 69 compared to 19 walks. In his final Memphis start prior to his promotion, Mathews struck out a season-best 10 over seven innings against Durham on July 24.
Mathews, a fourth-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, recorded his first MLB strikeout in the first inning when he dialed up a 96-mph fastball by Kazuma Okamoto. He ran into trouble in the third following a leadoff walk to Davis Schneider and a single the other way by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Schneider scored when Masyn Winn couldn’t handle a 107-mph grounder later ruled a single for George Springer. He limited the damage when he got Daulton Varsho to foul out.
The Blue Jays made it 2-0 in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Luis Urias, but Mathews got Guerrero to fly out to end that threat as well. Toronto’s rally was fueled by a Myle Straw gapper that was nearly hauled in by a diving Nathan Church.
The Cards cut the deficit in half when Ivan Herrera and Masyn Winn bunched doubles in the same inning. However, St. Louis couldn’t get Winn home to knot the game when Church and Blaze Jordan grounded out.
