Cardinals hit season-high 5 Home Runs at Orioles

Paul DeJong #11 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates with Jedd Gyorko #3 after scoring in the third inning against the at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 16, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland.

(June 16, 2017 - Source: Greg Fiume/Getty Images North America)

The St. Louis Cardinals (31-35) hit a season-high five home runs as they win at the Baltimore Orioles (32-34) 11-2 in the opener of their three-game series. The Cardinals have now won five of their last seven games. On the other hand, the O’s now lost eight of their last nine games.

The Cardinals struck first in the third inning. They loaded the bases with consecutive singles from LF Jose Martinez, 2B Paul DeJong and 1B Matt Carpenter. DH Dexter Fowler drew a walk next and Jose Martinez came home for the first run of the game.

With the bases still loaded RF Stephen Piscotty followed with a sacrifice fly ball, driving in Paul DeJong for a 2-0 lead.

The Orioles scored one run in the bottom of the frame. LF Hyun-soo Kim led off with a single and advanced to third base on a one-out double by RF Seth Smith. 3B Manny Machado followed with a sacrifice fly ball, enabling Hyun-soo to cross home plate.

The Cardinals extended their lead in the fourth inning. CF Tommy Pham singled with one out and Paul DeJong hit a two-out home run to put the Cardinals up 4-1. It was DeJong’s second long ball of the season.

St. Louis pulled further away in the sixth. Jose Martinez hit a two-out double and came home on a single from Paul DeJong. Back-to-back home runs from Matt Carpenter (13th) and Dexter Fowler (11th) gave the Cardinals an 8-1 lead.

Baltimore’s SP Kevin Gausman (3-6) was relieved after 5.2 innings. He surrendered 9 hits, 3 walks and 5 earned runs while striking out 7. His ERA and WHIP increased to 6.60 and 1.92, respectively.

St. Louis’ SP Carlos Martinez (6-5) pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 walks and 1 earned run while fanning 8. He now has a 2.86 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP this year.

The Cardinals were far from done. With two outs in the seventh inning SS Aledmys Diaz reached on a fielding error by RP Gabriel Ynoa and Tommy Pham followed with his sixth home run of the season to put St. Louis up 10-1.

In the ninth St. Louis scored their final run of the game with a leadoff homer from 3B Jedd Gyorko. It was his ninth long ball of the season.

The last run of the game, however, belonged to Baltimore when 1B Trey Mancini hit his 11th homer of the year.

Paul DeJong went 3-for-4 with 3 runs, 1 HR and 3 RBI. He is batting .286 and has 5 runs, 2 HR and 7 RBI in 14 games this season.