The Baltimore Orioles have found the winning formula over the past few days.
They’ve notched their first three-game winning streak of the season and will go for four in a row Tuesday night against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
“It has been good ball for us lately,” said Orioles outfielder Dylan Carlson, who played most of his career with the Cardinals. “This game is hard. You’ve got to bring it every day. … Here we are, it’s time to take advantage of an opportunity.”
Baltimore won 5-2 in Monday afternoon’s series opener, with Carlson hitting a home run for the second straight day.
For Carlson, it’s a chance to get more traction in getting his career back on track. A first-round pick (33rd overall) by St. Louis in 2016, he made his major league debut at age 21 in 2020. Now 26, Carlson began the season with Triple-A Norfolk before gaining a chance with Baltimore.
“It’s just good to play baseball at this level and get some wins,” Carlson said.
The outfielder’s uptick in production has coincided with the best stretch of the season for the Orioles, and the team doesn’t want to let the momentum wane. Baltimore has had some fluctuating lineups recently, in part because of an evolving schedule for a series last week in Boston.
“Just trying to keep the guy fresh,” Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “The doubleheaders, the day games, kind of everything going into that.”
The Cardinals have won their last three series as visitors and split the fourth, so they’ve handled road assignments well. A couple of early errors dinged St. Louis in the series’ first game on Monday.
“We’ve been playing clean baseball,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “Three day games in a row and sometimes you just chalk it up and you keep moving along.”
Baltimore first baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn has cranked out 15 hits across the last six games. That’s the most for an Oriole in that time span since Trey Mancini in 2019.
Maverick Handley, the catcher for the Orioles on Monday, was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. Adley Rutschman wasn’t available because he was hit by a foul ball on the mask Sunday in Boston. Baltimore added catcher Chadwick Tromp in a move Monday and kept Rutschman on the roster.
The Orioles have right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (4-3, 3.07 ERA) slated to take the mound. The rookie from Japan went six innings in a no-decision last Wednesday at Milwaukee, though it marked his fourth straight outing of at least six innings.
Sugano has issued just two walks with 11 strikeouts across his last three appearances (19 2/3 innings).
Right-hander Andre Pallante (4-3, 4.18) gets the call as the starting pitcher for the Cardinals. He has been the winning pitcher in his last two road games.
“My entire career, I’ve always gotten better as the year goes on,” Pallante said. “I found my mechanics more. I hope that’s a sign of more things to come. If I keep putting that product out there, the results will be really good.”
However, his most recent outing resulted in a home loss to the Detroit Tigers last Wednesday, when he surrendered three runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. His snags came with issuing a season high-tying four walks.
–Field Level Media
