By Canadian Press

Gorman hits 2 homers in St. Louis’ 9-4 win over Toronto

Apr 2, 2023 | 3:25 PM

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nolan Gorman hit a pair of two-run homers — including a first-inning blast that capped off a three-homer inning — and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-4 on Sunday.

Brendan Donovan and Alec Burleson also homered to start the game off of Toronto pitcher Chris Bassitt, who made his debut for the Blue Jays.

Bassitt (0-1) signed a three-year, $63 million deal in December, gave up the three homers on the first 14 pitches and ended up allowing nine runs on 10 hits over 3 1/3 innings.

Jordan Montgomery (1-0) gave up three runs on six hits over five innings to pick up the win.

Donovan, who ran his hitting streak to 11 games, paced the Cardinals’ 16-hit attack with two doubles and his first home run of the season. He teamed with Burleson to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead after just three pitches.

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Gorman recorded the second two-homer game of his career, the other coming in Milwaukee in June of last year. Dylan Carlson added three hits for the Cardinals in his first start of the season.

Toronto scored twice in the top of the second to climb to within 4-3. Danny Jansen and Matt Chapman drove in runs, and Daulton Varsho had two hits.

St. Louis catcher Willson Contreras, who signed a five-year free agent contract in December, returned to the lineup and had two hits. He left Thursday’s game after taking a Jordan Hicks pitch off his kneecap.

The Cardinals scored 22 runs in taking two of three games in the season-opening three-game series.

ICHIRO AND ARENADO

St. Louis third baseman Nolan Arenado was presented Gold Glove prior to the contest. His is the second player in MLB history to begin his career with 10 successive Gold Glove awards. The other is former Seattle outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who captured 10 in a row from 2001-2010.

THERE’S NO GOING HOME

The Blue Jays are playing their first 10 games on the road as renovations wrap up on Rogers Centre. It ties the longest road swing to start the season; the team played its first 10 games on the road in 1984.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Lars Nootbaar missed his second successive game with a sore thumb. He is expected to be available Monday, manager Oliver Marmol said.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: Toronto RHP Jose Berrios (12-7, 5.23) takes on Kansas City RHP Brady Singer (10-5, 3.23) in the first of a four-game set on Monday in Kansas City.

Cardinals: St. Louis RHP Jake Woodford (4-0, 2.23 last season) will face Atlanta RHP Charlie Morton in the first of a three-game series Monday. Woodford is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in six career appearances against Atlanta.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Steve Overbey, The Associated Press