TORONTO (AP) - Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie each homered, rookie Marcus Stroman won his second straight start and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 on Friday night for their sixth straight victory.
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.
Bautista hit a leadoff homer against Lance Lynn in the third and Lawrie connected with a two-out drive off Lynn (6-4) in the fifth. The AL East-leading Blue Jays have hit an ML-best 89 home runs.
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.
Toronto loaded the bases for a third time in the sixth inning, but the Cardinals escaped by turning 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.
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.
The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the first but Edwin Encarnacion and Juan Francisco both flied out.
Toronto stranded runners at first and third in the second but tied it in the third on Bautista's 15th home run.
An error, a single and a walk loaded the bases for the Blue Jays again in the fourth, but Lynn got Adam Lind to ground out.
Lynn allowed two runs and six hits in five innings, and is winless in two starts since beating the Yankees with a five-hitter on May 27. The right-hander matched a season high with four walks and struck out six.
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.
NOTES: St. Louis 2B Kolten Wong (left shoulder) did not start and manager Mike 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. ... The Blue Jays celebrated the 25th anniversary of SkyDome, now Rogers Centre. Former pitcher Jimmy Key threw out the first pitch to former catcher Ernie Whitt, the original batterymates from the 1989 opening game against Milwaukee. Former manager Cito Gaston brought out the lineup card. ... There was a moment of silence before the game to mark Wednesday's fatal shooting of three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in Moncton, New Brunswick. ... Cardinals RH Shelby Miller (6-5) faces Blue Jays LH Mark Buehrle (10-1) on Saturday.
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