Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson did a sufficiently fine work his initial twice through the Orioles setup. Baltimore pursued Hudson in the fifth with the Cardinals sticking to a one-run lead, and Cedric Mullins welcomed the reliever the most ideal way he knew how. Mullins turned the game with a huge homerun in the lower part of the fifth, and the Orioles beat the Cardinals 11-5 in the first of three games at Camden Yards.
Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman each singled to start the big inning. Ryan O’Hearn followed Anthony Santander’s strikeout with a line drive up the middle. Tommy Edman, a center fielder for the Cardinals, tried a diving catch, but nobody would mistake him for Jim Edmonds tonight.
The outfielder was unable to properly trap the ball because it bounced in front of Edman. Henderson and O’Hearn were both in scoring position when Rutschman raced home. Ryan Mountcastle worked a stroll to stack the bases, and St. Louis captain Oliver Marmol went to his warm up area.
Andre Pallante, a right-handed pitcher, was sent out by the Cardinals to face Mullins, and the former All-Star made the Red Birds pay. A 1-2 slider was activated by Mullins, and he got just enough of it. The ball cruised 370 feet and cleared the wall just left of the tall scoreboard in right field. Baltimore took a firm hold of the lead after the blast.
The huge homerun shut down the volatile baseball played over the initial five edges. St. Louis caught an early lead after a couple of two-out strolls and a solitary by Willson Contreras.
In response, Baltimore scored twice in the second inning. Aaron Hicks followed Mullins’ two-out single with a grounder to center. Hicks chose to break for second, while Mullins raced to third and won the throw. Nolan Arenado seemed to have Hicks red-handed for the third out, yet his toss cruised wide of the sack. Mullins was able to sprint home for the Orioles’ first run of the game thanks to the error.
Ramón Uras took advantage of the RBI opportunity after Adam Frazier took ball four to put two runners on base. Baltimore took its first lead of the game when Uras lined a ball to the center.