Cardinals hit 4 home runs, beat Blue Jays 9-4

[June 23, 2010]  TORONTO (AP) -- Matt Holliday brought his hitting tear to Toronto, connecting for one of four home runs by the St. Louis Cardinals in a 9-4 victory over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

Felipe Lopez, Yadier Molina and slumping Colby Rasmus also went deep for the Cardinals to back rookie left-hander Jaime Garcia (7-3).

Jose Bautista hit two home runs for Toronto, giving him a major league-high 20.

Holliday was selected NL player of the week after batting .435 (10 for 23) with four homers and eight RBIs from June 14-20. He kept his streak going against the Blue Jays with a single in the first inning, a homer in the third and a double in the fifth. He finished 3 for 5 with two RBIs.

Molina hit a solo shot in the second and Rasmus a two-run, pinch-hit drive in the eighth, snapping an 0-for-17 slide. Lopez capped the outburst with a solo homer in the ninth.

Garcia allowed three runs and six hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out four.

Kyle McClellan pitched 1 1-3 innings of relief, Trever Miller got two outs and Mitchell Boggs worked the ninth.

Bautista hit a two-run drive in the second and a solo shot in the seventh. It was the fourth multihomer game of the season for Bautista, who had not gone deep since homering twice June 4 against the New York Yankees.

The Blue Jays lead the majors with 108 home runs.

Molina's homer, his third, gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead, but Bautista replied with a two-run shot in the bottom half, just the third homer allowed by Garcia this season.

Holliday tied it with a one-out drive to left in the third, his 11th.

The Cardinals took the lead with a four-run fifth against left-hander Brett Cecil (7-4). Holliday and Ryan Ludwick hit RBI doubles and David Freese followed with a two-run single.

Adam Lind hit an RBI grounder in the sixth and Bautista cracked his second homer, a solo drive off the facing of the third deck, against McClellan in the seventh.

Rasmus restored the four-run lead with a drive to right off Jason Frasor in the eighth, his 14th. It was the first pinch-hit homer of his career.

Lopez, a former Blue Jay, connected off left-hander David Purcey in the ninth, his fourth.

Cecil allowed six runs and eight hits in five innings, losing back-to-back starts for the first time this season. He walked one, intentional, and struck out four.

NOTES: Plate umpire Paul Nauert had to have his left wrist taped between innings after he was hit by a ball in the top of the eighth. ... Blue Jays right-hander Dustin McGowan had surgery to repair a "significant tear" in his rotator cuff and improve range of motion in his pitching shoulder. He will not resume throwing for four to six months, general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. McGowan has not pitched in the majors since July 2008, when he had surgery to repair his labrum. ... Former NBA star Charles Barkley attended the game.

[Associated Press]

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