The St. Louis Cardinals couldn't complete a late-innings comeback Friday night, dropping their series-opener with the Toronto Blue Jays after Jose Bautista hit a ninth-inning home run, his 23rd bomb of the year, off rookie closer Fernando Salas. The Cardinals' beleaguered bullpen was forced into action early after Jake Westbrook, who continued his season-long struggles, couldn't make it out of the fifth inning; after Mitchell Boggs put out that fire rookie Lance Lynn pitched three solid innings in his first relief appearance, but Salas couldn't get around the Blue Jays' unlikely slugger and took his second loss of the season as the Cardinals fell by a final score of 5-4.
Colby Rasmus and Matt Holliday homered for the Cardinals, who took their 36th loss of the year and fell back to five games over .500. Brandon Morrow continued to pitch his way back after a spotty performance in May, striking out nine in seven innings and allowing three runs, although the win went to Jason Frasor.
Jaime Garcia and Carlos Villanueva will take the mound for game two of the series, scheduled for Saturday at 6:15.