TORONTO -- Mark Buehrle did his thing on Saturday, allowing only one run in seven innings as he tried for a major-league leading 11th win. Unfortunately for Buehrle, Shelby Miller did even better. The Cardinals starter pitched his first shutout of the season, and the second of his career, as St. Louis snapped the Toronto Blue Jays six-game winning streak with a 5-0 victory. "He was tremendous," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of Miller. "But theyve got a good pitching staff over there, as good as anybodys in baseball, top to bottom. He was on his game. We hit a couple of balls we thought had a chance but they flagged them down." Buehrle (10-2) wasnt at his best Saturday, but the left-hander pitched around five hits and five walks with his usual understated velocity that would not endanger fine china on impact. The only run he allowed in the game was Randal Grichuks first major-league homer on a first-pitch change-up in the fifth inning. It was enough to snap Buehrles streak of six consecutive winning decisions and give him his first loss since April 25 against the Boston Red Sox. "Buehrle was great," Gibbons said. "His command was off a little bit but he gutted it out for seven innings. He did what he does, he keeps you off the scoreboard but the story of the game was Miller. Hes got that sneaky fastball. He threw a lot of fastballs located it up, threw it in and out. He carved us up pretty good." Miller (7-5) held the Blue Jays to three hits and one walk while striking out five to snap a string of three losses in a row. "The biggest thing was getting ahead in the counts and mixing it up," Miller said. "Warming up in the bullpen I didnt feel good at all. Its crazy how the game works. Im a little speechless still. It was a lot of fun doing that." The Cardinals, who had lost their two previous games, scored four runs against Toronto relievers Aaron Loup and Steve Delabar in the eighth as they evened the three-game series against the Blue Jays with the rubber match on Sunday. Grichuk picked up his second RBI of the game when Delabar walked him with the bases loaded. While Miller was retiring his first 13 batters, the Cardinals (32-31) were threatening Buehrle. They loaded the bases with two out in the fourth on a one-out double by Jhonny Peralta, a walk to Oscar Taveras and a two-out infield that bounced off Buehrle. But Buehrle worked out of the jam when Tony Cruzs bouncer to third resulted in a force play at second. The Cardinals did score with one out in the fifth when Grichuk took homered to centre field. "It was changeup away, it was on the outside of plate, it may have been up a tad," Buehrle said. "I knew he hit it pretty good but I thought when he hit it that it was more of a pop fly so it kind of surprised me. It seems like we hit a few balls today that I thought were going to go out of there and they caught them at the warning track. He obviously hit it a little bit better than I thought he did at first." "He hammered that ball," Matheny said. "Thats the kind of power that excites you about him. Not many guys have that kind of juice to the centre of the field. The ball just absolutely jumps off his bat no matter what he does." The Blue Jays (38-25) did not have a runner on base until Adam Lind walked with one out in the fifth. Lind took second on a high chop by Brett Lawrie that first baseman Allen Craig snared adeptly before throwing to Miller covering first for the first out on a close play. Juan Francisco made the final out with a towering fly out to the wall in centre field. "The way we have been swinging the bats, for him to go out there and shut us out like that, its one of those things, tip your hat to that guy," said Buehrle, who threw a season-high 118 pitches. "He had it going today and kept us off the board." Jose Reyes lined a single to right with two out in the sixth for the Blue Jays first hit of the game and their second base runner. Melky Cabrera followed with a double that deflected off Craigs glove to put runners at second and third. But Jose Bautista struck out on a 97-mile-an hour fastball. Bautista, who hit a fly out to the centre-field warning track in the first, was 0-for-4 to snap a 12-game hitting streak. "He turned it up, no question," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Millers sixth-inning strikeout of Bautista. "Thats a huge part of the game right there, obviously, with one of the best hitters youre going to see." Left-hander Loup replaced Buehrle in the eighth and he was charged with four runs to snap his string of 15 1/3 scoreless innings. He walked Mark Ellis with the bases loaded to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead and allowed a two-run single by Cruz for a 4-0 lead before right-hander Delabar took over and walked his first two batters to force in another run. The rally started with Craigs one-out double to right that was followed by an intentional walk to Peralta and a single by Taveras that filled the bases. NOTES: Attendance was announced as 42,981. ...The Blue Jays have been alone in first in the AL East for 16 consecutive days, the longest since 1993 when they were first from June 24 until the end of the season. They won the World Series that year. a The interleague series ends Sunday with the Cardinals starting left-hander Jaime Garcia (1-0, 5.47 earned-run average) facing Blue Jays right-hander Drew Hutchison (4-3, 3.50 ERA). Robert Covington Jersey .C. - Blair Jones scored the eventual winner in the third period as the Abbotsford Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Oil Barons 3-2 in American Hockey League action on Friday. Derrick Williams Jersey .Johnny there, who knew he had that speed? teammate Tommy Wingels said.Scott and Matt Irwin were unlikely goal-scorers Tuesday night as the previously stingy San Jose Sharks finally sprung a leak or two, blowing a pair of three-goal leads before coming away with a 6-5 shootout victory over the Washington Capitals. https://www.cheaptimberwolves.com/150j-a...mberwolves.html. The Bulls seem to be getting along fine without him. D.J. Augustin scored 27 points in a start for Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson matched a career high with 26 filling in for Carlos Boozer as the Bulls improved to 7-2 since trading the popular Deng with a 98-87 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. Ricky Rubio Jersey . "I just think what it does for everybody in life is real simple," said Babcock early on Friday afternoon. "You dont give in. You just keep on keeping on. Is it going to go your way every time? No. But you choose your attitude and how you perform and how hard you dig in." Nearly four years to the day of the 2010 gold medal match in Vancouver, his team dug in with its best effort of these Olympics, snuffing out the high-powered Americans for another opportunity at gold. Sam Cassell Jersey .com) - The Atlanta Hawks have stepped up to every challenge during their 14-game winning streak and will face another daunting task Friday with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder in town.The pressure is on as a retooled Toronto FC kicks off its MLS season today in Seattle against the Sounders. Catch all the action live on TSN and TSN Radio 1050 at 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt.After seven years of on-field failure, new Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke dug deep into a well-stocked corporate pocket to bankroll manager Ryan Nelsen and GM Tim Bezbatchenkos global talent search. Many zeros later, Toronto FC is now home to England striker Jermain Defoe, U.S. international midfielder Michael Bradley, Brazilian international goalie Julio Cesar and forward Gilberto, and veteran Canadian star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. Toronto stocked up on so many designated players, it had to trade incumbent DP Matias Laba to Vancouver to get down to the league limit of three. The shopping spree has prompted a return to the clubs early days, when season tickets were hard to come by. BMO Field should be full this season, although Leiweke has acknowledged the team will still lose money in 2014 because of the outlay on players. With demand exceeding supply, top football talent is not cheap and MLSE likely had to overpay to convince such elite players to choose MLS over more established leagues.Fullbacks Justin Morrow and Bradley Orr and Brazilian midfielder Jackson have also joined the party, meaning Toronto will likely have eight new faces in its starting lineup when everyone is healthy. And theres the early season rub. Torontos pre-season was hit by injury, particularly at fullback and forward. Defoe, meanwhile was a late arrival due to club and country commitments.Gilberto, troubled by an upper leg injury, was been left out of the travelling party for Seattle. Nelsen hopes to have him back for the home opener March 22 against D.C. United. The Brazilian actually returned to training this week but Nelsen doesnt want to rush him in case he aggravates the injury. The artificial turf at CenturyLink Field was likely a factor in that decision. The good news is Defoe and Bradley are both available for selection. Bradley has been nursing a foot injury while Defoe simply hasnt had much time training with his new team. But Nelsen says the 31-year-old English forward has adapted well. "He feels pretty good, to tell you the truth," Nelsen said. "So well see how he is."Defoe could well come off the bench. Nelsen, in his second year at the Toronto helm, is mindful that this is a marathon, not a sprint.Other clubs kept their stars in cotton wool in Week 1 of the season. New York rested French forward Thierry Henry rather than expose him to the artificial turf at B.C. Place Stadium while Seattle sent in U.S. international striker Clint Dempsey off the bench. As for Bradley, Nelsen said: "Hes come through this week pretty good. I think Michael will be a definite." Thats good news for Toronto, which went 6-17-11 last season. Bradley looks to be the straw that stirs the TFC drink. Most everything will run through the American, a box-to-box midfielder who manages to be both cerebral and driven. Other injured players like Morrow and Orr have also returned to training. Their concern is game fitness rather thann health.dddddddddddd Nelsen is taking the long view."This game is not going to define us," he said. "Its going to take a bit of time to get everybody kind of on the same wavelength. Even Seattle, when they brought Clint (Dempsey) over -- just one piece -- were a bit of a different team last year. "Everybody has to kind of get used to each other and weve done it with several big pieces and several other pieces as well. This game is not going to define who we are. The next probably five or six, seven games are going to define who we are." Still, he hopes the progress is rapid, starting Saturday. With the playoffs a stated goal, Toronto cannot wait too long to start making its move up the standings, especially since Bradley, Cesar and possibly Defoe will be away for considerable time this summer on World Cup duty. When Toronto FC does not have possession, Nelsen expects his team to play the same kind of game it did last year -- with players pressing the opposition. The difference should be more noticeable when the team has the ball, given the influx of talent."Your options become a lot more with the quality thats on the field. Last year we had to be a bit more conservative because of the personnel we have," Nelsen said. "But when you have good players, you can start being a bit more expansive." While Toronto had a bye last weekend, a rain-soaked crowd of 39,240 saw Seattle win its season opener 1-0 over defending champion Sporting Kansas City with a stoppage-time goal by former Toronto forward Chad Barrett. Former Toronto keeper Stefan Frei was in goal. And on Thursday Seattle coach Sigi Schmid confirmed Frei as his No. 1 goalie ahead of veteran Marcus Hahnemann. The state of the Seattle turf at CenturyLink Field became an issue in the buildup to the Toronto game after Nelsen said of the surface: "Youve got not just an artificial field -- its a bad artificial field." Schmid took umbrage at the suggestions Seattles turf is bad, saying all the artificial surfaces are about the same in the league."Let me say this first, tell me which turf field is good in this league. There is no good turf field in this league," he told reporters. "I dont disagree, necessarily, with Ryans statement."Id love to have brand-new turf this year, as would everybody else. But I disagree with the point of making it seem like Seattles is worse than the others. I think the others are equally as good or as bad -- however you want to look at it." Scottish defender Steven Caldwell retains the Toronto armband as captain. Cesar starts in goal. To put Torontos woeful league history into perspective, a win Sunday would only be its 15th road victory since the teams debut in 2007. Seattle is one of seven MLS cities where Toronto has yet to win. NOTES: Torontos record in season openers is 1-6. All have been away from home to escape the weather. That record includes a 3-1 loss in Seattle to open the 2012 season. TFCs lone season-opening win was in 2009 when Toronto defeated Sporting Kansas City 3-2 ... MLSE boss Tim Leiweke is expected to take in the Seattle season opener. ' ' '