TORONTO (AP) — Jose Bautista was never far from his next big moment on Friday night.

Bautista and Brett Lawrie each homered, rookie Marcus Stroman won his second straight start and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 for their sixth straight victory.

Besides swatting his 15th home run, Bautista also threw a runner out at home plate, lined into a triple play and was involved in a fan interference call.

“It’s got to be the most eventful game I’ve ever had in my career,” Bautista said. “I’d like to see if anyone can find somebody else to have that a game with that combination of plays.”

The Cardinals turned their first triple play in nine years but still lost for the eighth time in 10 games. They dropped their fifth straight meeting with Toronto.

Bautista hit a leadoff homer against Lance Lynn in the third inning and Lawrie connected with a two-out drive off Lynn (6-4) in the fifth. The AL East-leading Blue Jays have hit an ML-best 89 home runs.

“These guys are putting up some pretty radical numbers,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Toronto.

Stroman (3-0) allowed one run and seven hits in six innings, walked one and struck out a career-high seven.

“Out of the gate he struggled a little bit but then he started using all his pitches,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “When he started using his breaking ball and his changeup a little bit, it made all the difference in the world.”

Toronto has won 15 of 17.

The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the sixth, but the Cardinals escaped with a triple play.

Bautista hit a sharp liner to Daniel Descalso at second that nearly struck umpire Manny Gonzalez.

Descalso flipped to shortstop Jhonny Peralta to double Jose Reyes off second base and Peralta threw to first get Melky Cabrera for the third out.

“He happened to hit it right at me,” Descalso said. “It got us out of a jam and kept us in the game.”

It’s the first triple play for the Cardinals since May 5, 2005, against San Diego. It’s the seventh time the Blue Jays have hit into a triple play.

Bautista was obstructed by a fan on Tony Cruz’s fly ball in the ninth. Originally ruled a dropped catch, the call was changed after a review.

Brett Cecil got one out in the seventh, Dustin McGowan worked 1 2/3 innings and Casey Janssen finished for his 11th save in 12 chances.

Allen Craig put the Cardinals in front with an RBI single in the first but Bautista threw out Matt Holliday trying to score from second, his sixth outfield assist.

“Every run for us right now is a big play,” Matheny said. “They made a great throw, we thought (Holliday) might have got around it but the camera showed different.”

Lynn allowed two runs and six hits in five innings, and is winless in two starts since beating the Yankees with a five-hitter on May 27. The right-hander matched a season high with four walks and struck out six.

“I thought I had good life on all my pitches tonight,” Lynn said. “It seemed like if it wasn’t in the strike zone, it wasn’t swung at. A very good approach by them.”

Reyes made it 3-1 with an RBI single off Jason Motte in the eighth.

Encarnacion returned to the lineup after sitting out Thursday with a sore back.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tim Hudson still refuses to take credit for his quick start to the season.

“There comes a lot of luck with it,” he said. “I’m just throwing the ball and missing (bat) barrels.”

The San Francisco right-hander threw seven shutout innings and Joaquin Arias keyed a four-run first inning with a two-run single to lead the Giants to an 8-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

The Giants have won five of six and have the best record in the NL at 37-20.

St. Louis has lost four of five. The Cardinals managed just four hits.

Hudson (6-2) gave up three hits, struck out six, and walked two in improving to 4-4 against St. Louis. Hudson’s previous win against the Cardinals came on July 19, 2007, as a member of the Atlanta Braves. He retired the last 11 batters he faced on Sunday.

The 38-year-old has a 1.75 ERA, second in the NL, and has gone at least seven innings in nine of 11 starts.

Hudson missed the final two months of last season with a fractured ankle, but has rebounded with one of the best starts of his 14-year career.

Hudson took control early after his teammates gave him four early runs.

“Great job,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. “You go seven innings and no runs against this club, you’re doing something.”

Catcher Buster Posey said Hudson simply keeps rolling along.

“Nothing fancy, he just goes out there and pitches to contact, like he always does,” Posey said. “He’s smart and he knows how to attack the hitters.

Hudson said he was able to relax after the early run support.

“I just went out there and tried to pound the strike zone,” he said. “A starting pitcher always welcomes early runs. It makes our job a whole lot easier.”

Arias came through with a key hit. He got the start after Michael Morse fouled a ball off his left foot in batting practice. In his second start in the past 24 games, Arias went 3 for 4 with three RBIs. He broke out of a 0-for-14 skid with a bases-loaded single in the first.

“He stays ready and he’s got a lot of poise,” Bochy said. “He really needed a game like this.”

Morse is expected back in the lineup on Tuesday when the Giants play at Cincinnati, according to Bochy.

Posey had three hits in returning to the lineup after missing three games with tightness in his lower back.

“I feel pretty good,” Posey said. “Hopefully, it is something I can manage.”

Lance Lynn (6-3) gave up seven runs, four earned, and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings after posting his first career shutout on Tuesday against the York Yankees.

“One of those days where that will happen,” Lynn said. “A tough one.”

Angel Pagan, Hunter Pence and Posey singled to start the four-run first. Posey’s RBI hit came on Lynn’s 10th pitch.

Gregor Blanco reached on an error by Kolten Wong and Pence scored on a groundout by Brandon Crawford. Brandon Hicks walked to set the stage for Arias’ bases-loaded single.

The error, on a potential double play ball, led to three unearned runs.

“If an out is made there,” Lynn said. “We are out of the inning with one run.”

Arias pushed the lead to 5-0 with a run-scoring single in the third. Crawford added an RBI double in the fourth. Blanco brought in the final run with a triple in the sixth.

“You’re just going to have those days,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “We just couldn’t get anything going.”

St. Louis third baseman Matt Carpenter extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a first-inning single. It is the longest current streak in the NL.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Michael Wacha wasted no energy pondering the weather. The St. Louis Cardinals pitcher concentrated on shutting down the opposition, waiting for the big swing that decided the outcome.

“I felt going out there and felt good going back out there after the rain delay,” the 22-year-old right-hander said after a 2-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday. “It’s pretty crazy how much it rains, actually. I’m pretty used to it.”

Oscar Taveras’ talent is immense, and he has hit at every level of the Cardinals organization. The time to pick him up in your fantasy league is now, Christopher Crawford writes. Story

The experience was brand new for rookie Oscar Taveras, who made the Giants pay for a hanging curveball, then made a curtain call during his major league debut.

“What a great day for him, one I’m sure he’ll never forget, and neither will we,” manager Mike Matheny said. “For him to come up and do it in that situation, it’s kind of mind-boggling.”

Wacha worked six innings of three-hit ball in his fifth rain-delayed start of the season and Taveras homered in his second career at-bat.

“Everybody knows it’s gone,” Taveras said. “That was a good swing right there. I’m so happy right now.”

Yusmeiro Petit (3-3) gave up two hits in six innings for the Giants, but one of them was Taveras’ 418-foot drive in the fifth. Petit subbed for injured Matt Cain, placed on the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring injury, for the second straight start.

“Our guy did a good job,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We just didn’t do anything offensively.”

The Cardinals have piled up 6 hours, 30 minutes of idle time in Wacha’s starts, with delays of 51 and 47 minutes Saturday. The total includes a 61-minute weather delay before the first pitch against the Yankees his last start for a storm that failed to materialize, and the Cardinals lost in 12 innings.

Wacha’s debut a year ago against the Royals was delayed more than 4 1/2 hours after the bullpen gave up the lead and finished at 3:14 a.m.

“This guy’s going to be tough as nails, if he’s not already,” Matheny said of last fall’s NLCS MVP. “You can’t put a young pitcher through much more than what he’s been put through.”

Jhonny Peralta added an RBI double off George Kontos in the seventh for St. Louis, which ended a three-game losing streak and snapped the Giants’ four-game winning streak.

Rain began to fall heavily during Taveras’ at-bat with one out in the fifth while fans opened umbrellas or headed for cover. The game was halted for the first time after the 21-year-old outfielder, the team’s prized prospect, hammered a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall.

“That kid’s a stud,” said Wacha, who’s just one year older. “Everyone knows what he’s capable of. That was a big-time homer for us.”

Petit was impressed after seeing Taveras for the first time.

“He’s got a good swing, you know,” Petit said. “He pulls everything. I tried to stay away and I missed one.”

Wacha (4-3) gave up one hit and dealt with just one base runner the first five innings, a double by Michael Morse leading off the second. He returned after a 47-minute delay to work a scoreless sixth, allowing two-out, two-strike hits to Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval before striking out Morse, the cleanup man, on three pitches — the last a changeup.

The St. Louis bullpen retired the last nine in order. Sam Freeman and Pat Neshek worked a scoreless inning apiece, combining for three strikeouts, and Trevor Rosenthal struck out the side in the ninth for 16th save in 18 chances.

Matt Carpenter had a single and walk and is batting .367 (21 for 57) during a 13-game hitting streak, the longest current run in the National League. Matt Holliday walked in the eighth and has reached base in all 27 home games.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Madison Bumgarner struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings and Hunter Pence hit a three-run homer off Adam Wainwright as the surging San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-4 on Friday night.

Bumgarner (7-3) allowed three hits and matched a season high for strikeouts set in his previous start against Minnesota. He walked one.

San Francisco has won eight of nine and owns the best record in the majors at 36-19.

Pence had two hits and scored twice. Pablo Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single and a double, but his run of nine straight games with an RBI was snapped.

Hector Sanchez and Gregor Blanco each had a two-run single for the Giants, who scored seven runs with two outs. San Francisco has scored 117 runs with two outs, tops in the big leagues.

Angel Pagan had two hits and scored twice for the Giants.

Jon Jay hit a three-run double off San Francisco reliever David Huff in the eighth. Allen Craig added an RBI double against Juan Gutierrez.

Wainwright (8-3) entered with a 20-inning scoreless streak and a major league-leading 1.67 ERA. He was trying to become the first nine-game winner in the National League, but lasted just 4 1/3 innings and allowed seven earned runs on eight hits. His ERA jumped to 2.32.

The Giants wasted no time ending Wainwright’s shutout streak. Pagan led off the game with a double down the left field line. He moved to third on Pence’s flyball to right and scored on Michael Morse’s two-out single.

San Francisco then broke the game open by scoring four times off Wainwright in the second inning after the first two batters were retired.

Brandon Hicks kept the inning going by coaxing a walk. Hicks went to third on Bumgarner’s single to left and scored when Pagan followed with a single to center. Pence then hit a 447-foot shot into the third deck in left field to make it 5-0.

Wainwright was pulled after allowing a single to Sandoval and a double by Morse with one out in the fifth. Sandoval and Morse both ended up scoring on Blanco’s two-out single off reliever Seth Maness.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Michael Morse homered and drove in three runs and Pablo Sandoval homered and scored twice to propel the San Francisco Giants to a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.

The Giants, at the start of a seven-game trip to St. Louis and Cincinnati, have won seven of eight.

The Cardinals have dropped three of four to start their nine-game home stand.

Gregor Blanco scored from second on Angel Pagan’s single to center to tie the score at 4-4 in the eighth. Pagan moved to second on Peter Bourjos’ throwing error that bounced on the home plate side of the mound and past three Cardinals, including Carlos Martinez (0-3), who was in front of catcher Yadier Molina rather than backing up the throw.

Trevor Rosenthal came in after Martinez intentionally walked Sandoval, but Morse doubled just past a diving Bourjos to drive in Pagan and Sandoval to give the Giants a 6-4 lead.

Javier Lopez (1-0) got two groundouts in relief of Ryan Vogelsong for his first win since Sept. 22, 2013, at the New York Yankees. Sergio Romo gave up a run on Matt Carpenter’s two-out single, but held on for his 17th save in 19 chances.

Vogelsong allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out five in 6 1/3 innings.

Sandoval’s eighth homer of the season tied the score at 3-3 in the sixth inning. The third baseman has an RBI in each of the past nine games, the first Giant to do that since Barry Bonds in 2000.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia went seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits. He struck out seven and has yet to issue a walk this season. He was in line for the victory after Allen Craig hit his sixth homer of the season and second in three games off Vogelsong in the bottom of the sixth.

Vogelsong got into trouble in the fourth when the Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs on Matt Holliday’s single and consecutive walks to Craig and Molina. Jhonny Peralta, batting .111 (5 of 45) with runners in scoring position, grounded into a double play, plating Holliday. John Jay drove in Craig with a single to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead.

Morse tied the score at 1-1 with his ninth homer of the season, a 442-foot blast to left center field, to lead off the second. Brandon Hicks scored on Blanco’s single to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.

St. Louis snapped Vogelsong’s scoreless streak at 13 2/3 innings with a run in the first. Craig’s ground-rule double brought home Carpenter, who singled to lead off and stole second with two outs.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Hiroki Kuroda snapped an 11-start road winless streak and Jacoby Ellsbury helped build an early lead with three hits and three RBIs his first three at-bats in the New York Yankees’ 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.

John Ryan Murphy added two RBIs for the Yankees, who took two of three without an appearance from Mark Teixeira, nursing a sore wrist, and wrapped up a 5-4 trip. Catcher Brian McCann made his first career start at first base in the finale.

Shelby Miller (6-4) allowed a career-worst seven runs and nine hits in five innings for St. Louis. Kolten Wong had a career-best four hits and an RBI, Matt Carpenter doubled twice with an RBI and Yadier Molina had two hits and two walks, but the Cardinals stranded 13 runners.

Derek Jeter didn’t play in the finale but made a curtain call before the seventh inning after the scoreboard camera focused on him in the dugout and fans responded with another standing ovation.

Kuroda (4-3) allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings for his first road victory since last July 25 at Texas. He had been 0-7 since then, the longest drought of his career but is 1-1 away from Yankee Stadium this year.

Miller had won five of his previous six starts but has lasted fewer than six innings seven times in his 11 starts. Frequently jumping on the first pitch, the Yankees pelted the 23-year-old right-hander for seven runs and seven hits. He walked two in the third and fourth.

Ellsbury had an RBI single in the third as five straight Yankees reached safely, and added a two-run single in the fourth. Murphy had a two-run single in the fourth.

The Cardinals stranded two in the second and left the bases loaded in the third when Yadier Molina popped out to second. Kuroda has allowed just one extra-base hit with the bases loaded in 65 career plate appearances, limiting opponents to 14 hits in 57 at-bats with a double.

St. Louis chipped away with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth and Wong’s RBI single off David Robertson in the eighth cut the deficit to three. The first two Cardinals reached in the ninth before Robertson struck out the next three, including pinch-hitter Matt Adams, to earn his 12th save in 13 chances.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lance Lynn lobbied for nine more pitches. One base runner, St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told the right-hander, and we go to the bullpen.

Lynn needed exactly nine pitches to finish a five-hit shutout in his first career complete game, a 6-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night.

“It was definitely one to remember,” Lynn said. “To do it against the Yankees is exciting, especially if it’s your first one as a professional.”

Lynn made 72 starts over three-plus seasons in the minors without going the distance, blaming ultra-vigilant pitch counters that never allowed anyone not named Maddux or Wainwright to throw more than 100 a game.

He is the seventh pitcher in franchise history to win 40 games before making a 100th career appearance, and topped his previous best of eight innings while baffling Yankees hitters with a sinker combined with a breaking pitch that Matheny thought was the best he’s seen this season.

`It’s very hard to see pitchers we’ve never seen before,” Yankees outfielder Alfonso Soriano said after going 0 for 4. “I know him, I played in the National League against him, but you have to give a lot of credit to him.

“The guy had command and that’s why he threw nine innings.”

Lynn struck out all four at-bats but the Cardinals had plenty of offense with homers by Allen Craig and Matt Holliday. Holliday and Matt Adams had three hits and an RBI apiece and Craig drove in two runs.

Holliday’s third homer of the season ended a 24-game drought. He had 22 homers last year.

“You play this game long enough, you’re going to have a period of time where things, you don’t get what you want,” Holliday said. “I don’t want to look back on the past, it’s all about what I’m doing now and the rest of the season.”

The Cardinals have won 10 of 13, shaking off a 12-inning loss in the series’ opener, and ended the Yankees’ three-game road winning streak that matched their best of the year.

Manager Joe Girardi said fatigue was not a factor.

“This is baseball. I mean, this is what we train to do,” Girardi said. “It’s just part of the game. You have ups and downs.”

David Phelps (1-2) pitched in his hometown for the first time and allowed three earned runs in six innings. Two infield errors contributed to two unearned runs in the Cardinals’ breakout four-run third.

Derek Jeter of the Yankees got a standing ovation before each at-bat, just like in the opener. He was 0 for 3 with a walk.

Adams leads the National League with 22 multi-hit games, Holliday has reached safely in all 23 home games and Craig has a team-high 15 RBIs this month.

Lynn (6-2) struck out two and walked three, topping his previous best of eight innings on April 25, 2012, at Chicago against the Cubs. He retired the side in order three times and finished with 126 pitches and still feeling strong.

“Every time you go out, that’s what you try to do, not give up any runs and finish it,” Lynn said. “Today was the first time I was able to do that, so it took me way too long.”

The Yankees were shut out for just the second time, going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and stranding two runners twice. Lynn was the first pitcher to go the distance and shut them out since Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer on July 27, 2013.

The Cardinals batted around in the third with Adams’ double the lone run-producing hit. Craig reached on a bases-loaded RBI groundout when first baseman Kelly Johnson gloved an offline throw from Jeter but then lost the ball attempting a sweeping tag, and two runs scored on Jhonny Peralta’s grounder that scooted under second baseman Brian Roberts’ glove.

Craig’s fifth homer ticked off right fielder Alfonso Soriano’s glove at the wall in the fifth. Holliday greeted reliever Alfredo Aceves with his third of the season leading off the seventh.

The Yankees opened with a big play on defense, with center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury’s running grab steps from the wall to rob leadoff man Matt Carpenter of extra bases in the first.

Adams stretched to full extension keeping his foot on the bag at first on Roberts’ groundout to end the second. Rookie second baseman Kolten Wong made three nice plays, outrunning Ellsbury to first after fielding a grounder that Adams also chased, turning a smash by Yangervis Solarte into a double play ball in the fourth, and diving to snare Phelps’ foul pop-up in the fifth.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brett Gardner’s leaping catch in the 11th inning gave the New York Yankees life. Patient at-bats and their first hit since the fifth inning put them over the top.

“I just tried to get back there as fast as I could,” Gardner said of his catch at the top of the left field wall that denied Yadier Molina of at least extra bases and perhaps a game-ending two-run homer in the Yankees’ 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in 12 innings Monday. “It was an easy play, just go back and make sure I get the ball in the glove before my back hits the wall.”

Brian Roberts’ bases loaded single was the go-ahead hit in a three-run 12th fueled by two walks and a hit batter. The Yankees won for the fourth time in extra innings on the season, three of them in the last six games.

“It’s a grind,” Gardner said. “But we’ve been playing pretty well and we seem to really stay focused.”

Pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano and Brendan Ryan each added an RBI for the Yankees, who took the opener of a three-game interleague series for their third straight win. Alfredo Aceves (1-2) worked two scoreless innings and David Robertson earned his 11th save in 12 chances.

“At that point, you’re just trying to get the guy in,” Roberts said. “You need to be selective and find ways to win.”

Jon Jay had an RBI double in the 12th for the Cardinals, who lost for the third time in 12 games.

“Just a really bad day,” reliever Randy Choate said. “I felt fine coming in, just didn’t have good stuff.”

A standing-room crowd of 47,311, the third-largest at 9-year-old Busch Stadium, showed up to see an opponent making only its second appearance in St. Louis since losing to the Cardinals in the 1964 World Series.

The enthusiasm did not appear to be dampened by a 61-minute weather delay — for rain that did not materialize — before the first pitch.

Cardinals pitchers retired 20 of 21 batters before the 12th, when Choate (0-2) faced five batters and four reached safely.

Five Yankees relievers were stingy, too, permitting two hits in seven innings.

“It comes down to doing little things and getting big hits,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s no secret. We had a couple of opportunities to get the big hit. You can’t do it all the time.”

Jacoby Ellsbury got the rally started when he walked to lead off the inning and stole second, a call upheld after Matheny challenged. After coming through, Roberts is 3 for 6 in extra innings.

“Another big hit for us,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I thought the bottom of the lineup was extremely productive.”

Molina slammed his helmet in frustration after Gardner came down with his drive at the top of the fence with a runner on and one out in the 11th.

Derek Jeter got a standing ovation before his first at-bat, and thousands stood again when he singled, although they also roared when he took a called third strike to end the eighth against Carlos Martinez after Molina’s pinpoint throw on Gardner attempting to steal.

Michael Wacha dealt with a rain delay for the fourth time in his 11 starts — total idle time of 4 hours, 52 minutes. After nine pitches the Yankees had the lead, with a walk by Gardner and a single by Jeter setting up Ellsbury’s RBI single.

The first three batters reached in a two-run fifth, too, with Kelly Johnson’s RBI single and Gardner’s sacrifice fly putting the Yankees up 3-1.

New York rookie starter Chase Whitley was vulnerable early, too. The Cardinals needed two at-bats to tie it in the first when Matt Carpenter tripled off the right-field wall and Kolten Wong doubled, but they missed a chance for more when Wong overslid third and was caught stealing for the first time in eight attempts this season.

Whitley qualified for a win for the first time in three career starts, but left with the bases loaded and none out in the sixth before the Cardinals tied it against Preston Claiborne. Allen Craig had an RBI groundout and Jhonny Peralta followed with a sacrifice fly.

Wacha bounced back after taking a foul liner off his elbow while sitting in the dugout his last time out, giving up three runs on four hits in seven innings. He had a season-low two strikeouts, the first against Ellsbury leading off the sixth.

— Associated Press —