Nathan Lukes' double in 8th pushes Blue Jays past Cardinals 3-2 to complete 3-game sweep

TORONTO (AP) — Nathan Lukes drove in the winning run with a double in the eighth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Pinch hitter George Springer singled off right-hander Andrew Kittredge (4-5) with one out in the eighth and Lukes followed with an RBI double into the left field corner.

Davis Schneider added a two-run home run, his second homer in two games, to help the Blue Jays sweep their fifth series of the season.

Right-hander Zach Pop (2-4) retired Nolan Arenado, the only batter he faced, for the final out of the eighth. Righty Chad Green stranded two runners in the ninth to earn his 17th save in 20 chances.

Lars Nootbaar homered for the Cardinals, who have lost six of nine to fall below .500 at 74-75.

St. Louis outfielder Jordan Walker opened the scoring and chased Toronto starter Yariel Rodríguez with an RBI double in the fifth.

The Blue Jays answered in the bottom half when Schneider hit a two-run drive to center off Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas.

Before his solo home run Saturday, Schneider hadn't homered since June 22. Sunday’s homer was his 12th of 2024.

St. Louis tied it when Nootbaar connected off left-hander Ryan Yarbrough to begin the seventh. The homer was Nootbaar’s 10th.

Rodríguez allowed one run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out two.

Mikolas was charged with two runs and three hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out four.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: INF Leo Jiménez returned to the lineup after being scratched Saturday because of a right index finger contusion.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Andre Pallante (6-8, 4.13 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday in the opener of a three-game series against Pittsburgh. RHP Paul Skenes (10-2, 2.10) goes for the Pirates.

Blue Jays: Toronto begins a three-game series at Texas on Tuesday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Toronto Blue Jays' Chris Bassitt, left, is given the Roberto Clemente Award by manager John Schneider, right, ahead of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals in Toronto, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yariel Rodríguez (29) goes to the mound during first-inning baseball game action against the St. Louis Cardinals in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas throws against the Toronto Blue Jays during first-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yariel Rodríguez stands on the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals during first-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas throws against the Toronto Blue Jays during first-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr., right, reacts during first-inning baseball game action against the St. Louis Cardinals in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

St. Louis Cardinals' Jordan Walker, left, hits an RBI double in front of Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brian Serven, center, during fifth-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays Leo Jiménez walks to the dugout between innings against the St. Louis Cardinals during baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yariel Rodríguez throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during first-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Blue Jays' Davis Schneider sets off to round the bases after hitting a two-run home run off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas during fifth-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday Sept. 15, 2024. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Just one day after pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded, more electronic devices detonated in Lebanon Wednesday in what appeared to be a second wave of sophisticated, deadly attacks that targeted an extraordinary number of people.

Both attacks, which are widely believed to be carried out by Israel, have hiked fears that the two sides’ simmering conflict could escalate into all-out war. This week's explosions have also deepened concerns about the scope of potentially-compromised devices, particularly after such bombings have killed or injured so many civilians.

Here's what we know so far.

On Tuesday, pagers used by hundreds of Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously in parts of Lebanon as well as Syria. The attack killed at least 12 people — including two young children — and wounded thousands more.

An American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Israel briefed the U.S. on the operation — where small amounts of explosives hidden in the pagers were detonated. The Lebanese government and Iran-backed Hezbollah also blamed Israel for the deadly explosions. The Israeli military, which has a long history of sophisticated operations behind enemy lines, declined to comment.

A day after these deadly explosions, more detonations triggered in Beirut and parts of Lebanon Wednesday — including several blasts heard at a funeral in Beirut for three Hezbollah members and a child killed by Tuesday's explosions, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.

At least nine people were killed and another 300 were wounded, the Health Ministry said, in this apparent second attack.

When speaking to troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made no mention of the explosions of electronic devices, but praised the work of Israel's army and security agencies and said “we are at the start of a new phase in the war."

A Hezbollah official told the AP that walkie-talkies used by the group exploded on Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Lebanon’s official news agency also reported that solar energy systems exploded in homes in several areas of Beirut and in southern Lebanon, wounding at least one girl.

While details are still emerging from Wednesday's attack, the second wave of explosions targeted a country that is still reeling from Tuesday's pager bombings. That attack appeared to be a complex Israeli operation targeting Hezbollah, but an enormous amount of civilian casualties were also reported, as the detonations occurred wherever members' pagers happened to be — including homes, cars, grocery stores and cafes.

Hezbollah has used pagers as a way to communicate for years. And more recently, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned the group’s members not to carry cellphones, saying they could be used by Israel to track the group’s movements.

Pagers also run on a different wireless network than mobile phones, which usually makes them more resilient in times of emergency. And for a group like Hezbollah, the pagers provided a means to sidestep what’s believed to be intensive Israeli electronic surveillance on mobile phone networks in Lebanon — as pagers' tech is simpler and carries lower risks for intercepted communications.

Elijah J. Magnier, a Brussels-based veteran and a senior political risk analyst who says he has had conversations with members of Hezbollah and survivors of the attack, said that the newer brand of pagers used in Tuesday’s explosions were procured more than six months ago. How they arrived in Lebanon remains unclear.

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo said Wednesday it had authorized use of its brand on the AR-924 pager model — but that a Budapest, Hungary-based company called BAC Consulting KFT produced and sold the pagers.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said that it had no records of direct exports of Gold Apollo pagers to Lebanon. And Hungarian government spokesman later added that the pager devices had never been in Hungary, either, noting that BAC had merely acted as an intermediary.

Speculation around the origins of the devices that exploded Wednesday has also emerged. A sales executive at the U.S. subsidiary of Japanese walkie-talkie maker Icom told The Associated Press that the exploded radio devices in Lebanon appear to be a knock-off product and not made by Icom.

“I can guarantee you they were not our products,” said Ray Novak, a senior sales manager for Icom’s amateur radio division, in an interview Wednesday at a trade show in Providence, Rhode Island.

Novak said Icom introduced the V-82 model more than two decades ago and it has long since been discontinued. It was designed for amateur radio operators and for use in social or emergency communications, including by people tracking tornadoes or hurricanes, he said.

Tuesday's explosions were most likely the result of supply-chain interference, several experts told The Associated Press — noting that very small explosive devices may have been built into the pagers prior to their delivery to Hezbollah, and then all remotely triggered simultaneously, possibly with a radio signal. That corroborates information shared from the U.S. official.

A former British Army bomb disposal officer explained that an explosive device has five main components: A container, a battery, a triggering device, a detonator and an explosive charge.

“A pager has three of those already,” said the ex-officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he now works as a consultant with clients on the Middle East. “You would only need to add the detonator and the charge.”

This signals involvement of a state actor, said Sean Moorhouse, a former British Army officer and explosive ordinance disposal expert. He added that Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, was the most obvious suspect to have the resources to carry out such an attack. Israel has a long history of carrying out similar operations in the past.

The specifics of Wednesday's explosions are still uncertain. But reports of even more electronic devices exploding may suggest even greater infiltration of boobytrap-like interferance in Lebanon’s supply chain. It also deepens concerns around the lack of certainty of who may be holding rigged devices.

It would take a long time to plan an attack of this scale. The exact specifics are still unknown, but experts who spoke with the AP about Tuesday's explosions shared estimates ranging anywhere between several months to two years.

The sophistication of the attack suggests that the culprit has been collecting intelligence for a long time, explained Nicholas Reese, adjunct instructor at the Center for Global Affairs in New York University’s School of Professional Studies. An attack of this caliber requires building the relationships needed to gain physical access to the pagers before they were sold; developing the technology that would be embedded in the devices; and developing sources who can confirm that the targets were carrying the pagers.

Citing conversations with Hezbollah contacts, Magnier said the group is currently investigating what type of explosives were used in the device, suspecting RDX or PETN, highly explosive materials that can cause significant damage with as little as 3-5 grams. They are also questioning whether the device had a GPS system allowing Israel to track movement of the group members.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, an expert in military arms who is director of the Australian-based Armament Research Services, added that “such a large-scale operation also raises questions of targeting" — stressing the number of causalities and enormous impact reported so far.

“How can the party initiating the explosive be sure that a target’s child, for example, is not playing with the pager at the time it functions?” he said.

Associated Press journalists Johnson Lai in Taipei, Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island contributed to this report.

People donate blood for those who were injured by their exploded handheld pagers, at a Red Cross center, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)