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Instant Reaction: Luis Urías giveth and taketh away in Blue Jays 5-1 loss to Cardinals
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Photo credit: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Aug 2, 2026, 16:45 EDTUpdated: Aug 2, 2026, 17:14 EDT
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All hope of adding for a potential playoff push disappeared in the series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Entering Sunday’s game on a three-game winning streak, the Toronto Blue Jays struggled to get anything brewing against the Cardinals starter. Ultimately, they fell 5-1 thanks to a ninth-inning blowup, falling to 52-60 and very likely moving to 4.5 games back of the final wild card spot. Let’s take a look at what went on in this one.
Max Scherzer started this game in what could end up being his final start as a Blue Jay. It also happened to be one of his best starts for the franchise, going six innings of one run ball, walking one, and striking out five (more on this later). Sadly, the Blue Jays’ offence did nothing to help him.
That lone earned run Scherzer gave up came in the top of the third, giving up a one-out walk to Nathan Church. After striking out Blaze Jordan, the future Hall of Famer surrendered an RBI double to Lars Nootbar, as the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead.
Scherzer did everything under his power to give the Jays the win, but they mustered just one hit and a walk off Cardinals’ starter Matthew Liberatore. In the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinals finally went to their bullpen, bringing in Ryne Stanek. George Springer hit a one-out triple off the hard-throwing righty, but a strikeout and a pop up stranded the designated hitter at third base.
The Jays finally got on the board in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out rally. Andrés Giménez hit a single, stole second, and was cashed in by Luis Urías to make it a 1-1 game with the rest of the top of the order coming to bat. Urías giveth the Jays some hope.
But as he’s done so often this season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end the rally. That’s common, but Louis Varland struggling sure wasn’t. A lead-off walk came in to score thanks to back-to-back singles, restoring the Cardinals lead. 
With runners on the corners and two outs, Varland generated a routine grounder, but Urías’ throw went wide and the Cardinals added a second run. They scored two other times in this inning for a 5-1 lead. Urías taketh the hope away.
A lead-off single + error in the bottom of the ninth led to nothing, and the Jays lost the series finale, their final game before the 6:00 PM ET trade deadline.

Takeaways…

If this does end up being Max Scherzer’s final start with the Blue Jays, what an outing to end his brief stop in Canada. Going six one-run innings, Scherzer notched his 300th quality start in his career. More importantly, he inches that much closer to entering the top for most career strikeouts.
During the game, it was reported that Walter Johnson sits at 3,515 strikeouts, 10th in Major League Baseball. With five strikeouts in this outing, Scherzer is now just four away from besting that. Just one of many feathers in the cap for the future Hall of Famer.
Although he left the game with the Blue Jays down 1-0, they at least tied it to earn him a no-decision. Urías has an RBI in each of the three games against the Cardinals, two of them were of the clutch variety. That said, his throwing error that would’ve ended the inning tacked on three more Cardinals’ runs, far too much for this lethargic offence to overcome. Shades of Marcus Semien back in 2021.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had an MVP calibre season in 2021, but has not been good in 2026, to put it bluntly. Entering this game, he had 13 hits (three doubles) over his last 37 plate appearances, but went 0-4 in this outing with three strikeouts. The one time he did put the ball in play, shortly after Urías’ game-tying single, he grounded out. Far too much of that this season.
Louis Varland has been ever dependable this season, but this is an outing he’ll love to forget. Walking the first batter, the Cardinals cashed in that run with back-to-back singles, just the seventh earned run the All-Star calibre closer has surrendered in 2026. A saving grace from this game is that the three other runs that came in to score were on the unearned variety.
Unfortunately, the errant throw and ensuing loss has diminished whatever hope there was of contending for a playoff spot, mainly with how close it is to the trade deadline. The plan reportedly never changed even with the Jays’ recent wins, but it felt like maybe, just maybe, this team could go on a run. We came right back down to earth with this loss as it proves the offence just hasn’t been good enough.
Two of the three runs also came against the Cardinals, another team who’ll sell ahead of the trade deadline. This next series will be far more difficult, hitting the road to take on the Houston Astros for a three-game series beginning on Monday. As it stands, Shane Bieber is expected to start that game at 8:10 PM ET, but with the trade deadline at 6:00 PM ET, who knows what’ll happen.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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