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Despite seeing the Blue Jays retake their lead in the fourth inning and seeing them extend it with runs in the seventh and ninth innings, what Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol feels his club’s offense showed on Tuesday night reinforced an “identity.”

The Cardinals broke through with four runs in the fourth inning to close a 4-0 gap, tacked on another two in the eighth to bring them to an 8-6 deficit and, after Toronto’s lead grew back to four runs, received a 432-foot, three-run homer from Willson Contreras when the Blue Jays were forced to turn to closer Jeff Hoffman in the ninth. The late rally highlighted by Contreras’ ninth-inning homer was enough to bring the Cardinals to within a run of Toronto, but it was the last offense they produced in a 10-9 loss at Busch Stadium.

For Marmol, his club’s ability to rally throughout Tuesday showed “exactly what they’re about.”

“Guys not giving in. Not giving anything away. Trying to win every pitch,” Marmol said. “It shows, and there’s not a whole lot of breathing room. There are some guys that aren’t feeling great about their swings, but they’re still competing, and then some guys (where) it’s starting to click for them. That’s fun to watch, but I feel like just competing every pitch has been a key to it.”

The Cardinals (36-31) trailed the Blue Jays 4-0 after Andres Gimenez hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Alan Roden singled home George Springer in the fourth against Miles Mikolas, who allowed six runs on nine hits across five innings in his start.

A pair of singles and the first of three homers the Cardinals hit provided their first response.

After Brendan Donovan reached base with a hit by pitch to open the bottom of the fourth, singles from Alec Burleson and Nolan Arenado produced the Cardinals’ first run off Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt. The string of hits put runners on base for Nolan Gorman, who entered his start at second base with two homers off Bassitt over his career.

Gorman’s ability to foul off a 1-2 cutter earned him an additional pitch vs. Bassitt, who threw a third consecutive cutter to Gorman. The left-handed-hitting infielder pulled Bassitt’s cutter 391 feet to left field with a 111.6 mph exit velocity for a three-run homer that tied the game.

“I didn’t think he was coming back with a third (cutter),” Gorman said. “I thought he was going to try to throw something away and try to get a ground ball for a double play, but I was just making sure I was on time for hard (velocity) and put a good swing on it.”

The Blue Jays strung together three consecutive hits off Mikolas to open the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead that eventually grew to 6-4 later that inning on a sacrifice fly from Springer.

“It gives us a chance,” Mikolas said of the Cardinals lineup’s production. “Aside from that first inning, the one that’s going to bother me is going out and not having a good shutdown inning after we come back and score four right there. That’s me letting the boys down.”

Even after they fell behind and saw Toronto maintain its lead with help from Alejandro Kirk’s two-run homer in the seventh inning and two runs in the ninth, swings early in counts against Blue Jays relievers backed Marmol’s belief in his lineup.

One of those swings came from Nolan Arenado.

When the Blue Jays called on Chad Green from their bullpen, Arenado welcomed the right-hander to the game by homering on the first pitch, a 95.4 mph fastball, he threw to the Cardinals third baseman.

An inning later, the three-run homer by Contreras came on the first pitch he saw from Hoffman.

“We’re never out of a game,” Gorman said. “I think you saw that tonight as well (against) two of their better relievers. (We) put some runs up on them but just not enough. I don’t think we’re ever out of a game, no matter what the score is or inning or situation.”

While producing as one of MLB’s top offenses, the Cardinals finished Tuesday ranked fifth in team batting average (.257) and eighth in team on-base plus slugging percentage (.733) when they are behind in games. Those figures place them alongside teams across the majors, including the division-leading Cubs, Mets and Dodgers.

The figures provide examples of the resilience Marmol believes his club possesses.

“You’re building towards something really neat, and it becomes your identity,” Marmol said. “I mean, you go in that clubhouse right now, and ... they never feel like they’re out of a game. You give up three in the first and you know you’re going to figure out a way to come back. And they do exactly that. It’s not once in a while; it’s every game you look at the style of play. It’s just every single game we’re putting pressure on them.”

Donovan exits with left toe discomfort

Making a start in left field with Lars Nootbaar receiving a day off, Donovan exited Tuesday night’s game at the start of the ninth inning because of discomfort in his left toe.

Donovan said the discomfort was in a joint in his big toe on his left foot. The injury is one he said was not caused by a singular moment. Rather, it was something he said “accumulated over time.”

When he met with reporters on Tuesday night, Donovan recalled feeling the discomfort earlier in the day while he was running in the outfield. He said the discomfort got “progressively worse” as the game went on and made it difficult for him to swing and rotate.

“I tried to finish out the game, but we just thought it’d probably be a good idea to get off of that foot,” Donovan said.

Donovan, who is tied for third in the National League in hits and is tied for second in doubles with 20, felt like the injury is “not that bad.” The 28-year-old Gold Glove utility defender will be reevaluated on Wednesday.