The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7–4 on Tuesday night after Nolan Arenado hit a game-winning home run in the eighth inning.
The Orioles went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position, reverting to their old ways while on a season-long three-game winning streak. The lone hit was a three-run homer by Ryan O’Hearn that gave Baltimore a 4-3 lead in the fifth, but the Cardinals replied with a run in the seventh and three in the eighth against the Orioles’ bullpen.
Bryan Baker (3-1) gave up Arenado’s single blast with one out in the eighth, and then Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker followed with consecutive triples that escaped Baltimore outfielders. It was 7-4 after Masyn Winn’s RBI single.
St. Louis grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second inning on Lars Nootbaar’s two-run homer against Tomoyuki Sugano. The Orioles eventually scored on Cardinals starter Andre Pallante in the fourth.
In that inning, Baltimore loaded the bases with no one out due to defensive sloppiness. When Heston Kjerstad hit a possible double play ball to second and Jorge Mateo struck out, the Orioles almost lost, but Alec Burleson, first baseman, was unable to handle Winn’s bouncing throw, and Kjerstad was safe with an RBI fielder’s choice.
O’Hearn gave Baltimore the lead in the fifth inning, but Mateo stole second and third and singled in the sixth, preventing the Orioles from scoring. Steven Matz (3-1) entered and retired Jackson Holliday on a grounder to close the inning after Chadwick Tromp struck out for the second out.
After 13 opportunities, Ryan Helsley made his 11th save while pitching the ninth.
In the second and sixth innings, the Orioles wasted man-on-second and nobody-out opportunities.
After dropping their first 11 road games, St. Louis has won 11 of their last 17.
If the weather holds, St. Louis’ Miles Mikolas (4-2) will start against Cade Povich (1-3) in the series finale on Wednesday night.
