Orioles Continue Trend Of Failed Sweeps In Loss To Cardinals

After an impressive start to the series, The Orioles fell short to the Cardinals in game three. The O’s put up five more runs (after scoring 21 runs in the first two games), but it wasn’t enough to secure the sweep. Lefty starter Trevor Rogers was catching too much of the plate in his worst start since May and the O’s lost, 7-5, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Rogers comes off a start where gave up three runs in seven innings against the Rays, punching out six along the way. He wasn’t at his best but did well enough to get the win.

Thursday was a different story. Rogers gave up six earned with seven hits through five innings. Just like the earlier games in the series, the Cardinals offense got going early, starting with a Blaze Jordan three-run homer (his first in St. Louis).

From there, Rogers settled in through the fourth with two straight k’s until former Oriole Ramón Urías belted a two-run bomb for his third of the year. The next inning, he gave up a walk and two singles before an Alec Burleson grounder to first drove in the Cardinals sixth run.

Throughout his outing, Rogers had no issue getting to 0-2 counts. He came right after the lineup with his fastball and forced even their best hitters to swing out of the zone. But he couldn’t put batters away. The 0-2 counts quickly turned into 3-2 counts (the Urías homer, for example), making it easy for the Cards to capitalize.

“Lately, the homers have been killing me,” Rogers told the media after the game. “I’m going to try to figure out how to get the ball to the ground more consistently, and I wouldn’t really change a whole lot other than that.”

Similar to the rest of the series, the O’s bullpen took care of business. Cam Sanders entered in the sixth and pitched two shutout innings, punching out four. Following Sanders, manager Craig Albernaz, whose leadership has been questioned lately, tasked Anthony Nunez to keep the offense at bay. While he started off hot with two strikeouts, he walked Urías who would score after a wild pitch and RBI single from Nathan Church.

Falling Just Short

The Cardinals entered Thursday’s game short staffed on start pitching, and as a result placed a reliver in as an opener. They went with 26-year-old righty Gordon Graceffo, who completely outmatched the Orioles’ lineup. Graceffo pitched a no hitter through the first three innings on only 38 pitches (which would be nothing for an actual starter) until being pulled for Justin Bruihl in the fourth.

“The first guy just mowed right through us,” manager Craig Albernaz said in his post-game press conference. “We didn’t really have an answer for him. Coming in, we knew he had a high walk rate, but he came out pumping strikes.”

The Orioles wouldn’t record a hit until the fourth with a Jackson Holliday double (he has been producing lately in the leadoff spot). They finally scored in the fifth with a Colton Cowser sac fly but put up the real damage later.

The Cardinals brought in Caleb Ferguson to pitch the seventh, a lefty with a 5.23 ERA. Enter Coby Mayo, the left-handed pitcher hitting machine. With two runners on, Mayo blasted a cutter to the deepest part of the ballpark (446 ft) to make it a 4-6 game at that point.

The O’s scavenged one more run in the eighth after a Gunnar Henderson RBI double to the opposite field, driving in Holliday (who put up two hits in the game along with Christian Encarnacion-Strand).

Unfortunately, with the Cardinals insurance run that same inning loomed large. The middle of the lineup struggled – Pete Alonso and rookie Samuel Basallo. Both hitters went 0-4 (Alonso with four Ks in just the second time in the last 18 games he did not register a hit).

With another failed sweep (three of their last four series), the Orioles continue their road trip in Sacramento where they play the Athletics, the second worst team in baseball. There they hope to stay relevant in the wild card race and take advantage of a team that has little going for them, before facing the hapless Rockies to end the trip.

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