Jordan Montgomery didn’t have his best outing.

But thanks to the offense, he didn’t have to.

Chris Bassitt’s first outing of the year was even worse, as the ninth-year veteran surrendered four homers and a career-high nine earned runs over 3 1/3 innings as the Jays fell 9-4 to the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

“I’m at a loss for words a little bit,” Bassitt said. “I’ve never had a game like this where six different pitches were getting hit hard … It’s a great lineup. Adjustments will be made but, yeah, I’m frustrated.”

Nolan Gorman‘s two-homer, four-RBI day was simply a continuation of the improvement he made in the offseason and the stellar way he hit the ball during Spring Training. Through three games, the Cardinals’ new DH is 4-for-9 with two homers, four walks and six RBIs. While he was not the Nolan that fans were screaming about heading into the season, he’s shined thus far in the early season.

“It started to click in the offseason a little bit, and I just wanted to go into Spring Training continuing to do what I was doing in the offseason to get better results and get better swings off,” Gorman said. “I put in a lot of work, and it’s good to see that it’s coming together. I’ve just got to keep putting together good at-bats.”

He wasn’t the only one with the power on Sunday, however.

Brendan Donovan on his first pitch and Alec Burleson hit an opposite-field homer two pitches later.