José Fermín doesn't really have a true defensive position on the baseball diamond, but he still turned himself into an indispensable part of the Cardinals' lineup over the past six weeks because of the gritty at bats that he gives the team nightly.

On Sunday, he delivered one of his best swings of the season against a tough Toronto reliever to spark a big ninth inning for a Cardinals club that needed a win in the worst way.

Fermín drilled a 103.6 mph liner into center field off Toronto standout Louis Varland for the game's go-ahead run in the ninth inning and the Cardinals added on three more from there in a 5-1 defeat of the Blue Jays at Rogers Center.

"It's a great win and (rallying) is what we've been doing all year," Fermin told Cardinals TV after driving in his 23rd run of the season. "We're really trying to get some momentum back and start winning ball games again." 

The Cardinals used the four-run ninth inning to end a three-game losing streak and an eight-game skid against Toronto that stretched to April of 2023. Jordan Walker had two hits and two RBI in the ninth inning to help St. Louis top the four-run mark for just the second time in the past 10 games. The RBIs were the 80th and 81st of the season for Walker, who ranks second in the National League in that offensive category.

Bryan Torres, Fermín and Walker had hits in the ninth inning after Masyn Winn had reached on a lead-off walk. The inning got to Walker after Toronto second baseman Luis Urias spiked a throw to first base to prolong the Cardinals' rally.

Fermín was ready for a 98.2 mph sinker from Varland, and he laced it into center to score Winn, who had moved up to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run play by Torres.

"I was just trying to get a good pitch, put it in the air and drive that run in," Fermín said. "I got a good fastball, and I put a good swing on it. We took some good at bats (in the ninth inning) and all the guys were trying to lay off that curveball (from Varland). We put some good swings on pitches today."   

The game was a pitching duel most of the day with suburban St. Louis native Max Scherezer and Matthew Liberatore dominating the action much of the day. When Scherzer was graduating from Parkway Central High School in suburban St. Louis and getting drafted for the first time by the Cardinals in the 43rd round in 20203, Liberatore was just four years old. Three years later, as seven-year-old Liberatore was starting to fall in love with baseball while growing up in suburban Phoenix, Scherzer was embarking on his MLB career as a first-round pick by the Diamondbacks in 2006.

Some 20 years later, the 42-year-old Scherzer and the 26-year-old Liberatore squared off in a classic pitching duel where both shined all afternoon.

Liberatore shook off his recent struggles and blanked the Jays over six innings while allowing just one hit and one walk. He struck out seven, two of them looking.

"He needed that type of outing and the whole club did," manager Oliver Marmol said of Liberatore on Cardinals TV.

Scherzer, who spent much of this season on the Injured List with back and thumb issues, showed why he is coveted by contenders by limiting his hometown Cardinals to four hits and a run over six innings. He struck out five and walked just one.

Liberatore lost out on the chance to get a win when reliever George Soriano allowed a two-out single and a stolen base to Andres Gimenez. Then, Jays' second baseman Luis Urias -- the brother of Cardinals' infielder Ramon Urias -- drilled a 3-0 slider into the left field corner for an RBI double that knotted the score at 1 in the bottom of the eighth inning. 

The struggling Cardinals offense scored first on Sunday when Lars Nootbaar went with a Scherzer sinker and lined it into the left field corner for a two-out double that scored Nathan Church. The only walk of the day surrendered by Scherzer was to Church, who eventually came around to score.

Despite having struggled in seven of his last nine starts, Liberatore was sharp in the early going and he even showed some improved velocity. He struck out the side in the first inning with a big curveball to Luis Urias and 95.5 mph four-seam fastballs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kazuma Okamoto.

Alejandro Kirk grounded a ball back up the middle that was stopped by second baseman Jose Fermin, but the Jays catcher beat the bouncing throw to first for an infield single. It was the only blemish against Liberatore over the game’s first 5 2/3 innings before a two-out walk to Urias in the sixth inning.

Liberatore capped one of his best performances of the season by ending the sixth inning with a strike out of Guerrero Jr. after falling behind 3-1 in the count. Liberatore got Guerrero to chase a 94.6 mph fastball off the plate for the left-hander’s seventh strikeout of the game – and the third by the Jays’ slugger.

Veteran reliever Ryne Stanek, who has been mentioned in trade rumors in recent days, pitched out of trouble in the seventh inning after replacing Liberatore. George Springer’s drive to the wall in right was misplayed by Nootbaar and ruled as a triple. However, Stanek dialed up a 97-mph fastball down and in to strike out Alejandro Kirk and he got Ernie Clement to foul out to catcher Ivan Herrera to protect the 1-0 lead.

Preserving the lead gave Stanek his 17th hold of the season. However, it was the first hold for a reliever from the Cardinals’ struggling bullpen since July 22nd.