Cardinals offense struggles against Blue Jays

~ St. Louis turned a triple play for the first times sine 2005 but lost 3-1 on Friday

TORONTO -- For the first time in more than a month, Lance Lynn got burned by the long ball. Two of them, to be exact.

Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie each homered off Lynn, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 on Friday night for their sixth straight victory despite hitting into a triple play.

Bautista's leadoff blast in the third inning was the first allowed by Lynn (6-4) since Mets outfielder Chris Young connected off him on April 24, snapping a homerless streak of 45 2/3 innings.

Lawrie broke a 1-all tie with a two-out drive in the fifth.

"Just one of those nights where I couldn't get them to swing at my off-speed stuff," Lynn said. "Two mistakes I made with my heater and they cost me."

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.

Lynn allowed two runs and six hits in five innings, and is winless in two starts since beating the Yankees with a five-hitter 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."

Toronto loaded the bases twice against Lynn, who managed to strand nine runners.

Manager Mike Matheny acknowledged that Lynn and the Cardinals had been "fortunate" not to endure more damage against the power-packed Blue Jays.

"He fought and got out of some jams, which were early and often," Matheny said of Lynn. "He kept us in it but obviously it wasn't the kind of outing he wanted."

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 ... a game with that combination of plays."

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

Toronto has won 15 of 17. The AL East-leading Blue Jays have hit an ML-best 89 home runs.

"These guys are putting up some pretty radical numbers," Matheny said of the Blue Jays.

Toronto loaded the bases for a third time 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.

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."

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.

Noteworthy

* St. Louis 2B Kolten Wong (left shoulder) did not start and Matheny said Wong could sit out the three-game series.

* Yadier Molina started at DH for St. Louis, with Tony Cruz behind the plate.

* Cardinals INF Mark Ellis celebrated his 37th birthday.