51黑料

That offense that Nolan Arenado described as 鈥渘ever out of it鈥� and a lineup capable of mulching opponents with long, grinding at-bats 鈥� 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e known for,鈥� manager Oliver Marmol said 鈥� can stir at any time to flip a game. Though it prefers the middle innings.

The Cardinals鈥� relentless lineup rallied for the second consecutive night in Oriole Park at Camden Yards, scoring five runs in the fourth and fifth innings against lefty Cade Povich and then launching a flurry of relievers to hold a 6-4 victory late Wednesday night. On his way to a second four-hit game of the month, Masyn Winn had a single to start the Cardinals鈥� first rally and a double to continue their second one.

Winn scored on Brendan Donovan鈥檚 two-run homer in the fifth inning that seized the lead for good.

In innings 3 through 6 this season, the Cardinals are outscoring opponents by 43.

Rain loitered over the Baltimore area all day and threatened to bump the game back to a mutual off day Thursday. Neither team was thrilled about that possibility. The Cardinals moved out of their hotel Wednesday afternoon in hopes of not returning and heading instead toward their break in Texas.

鈥淚鈥檇 rather play this one today, even if we have to wear goggles,鈥� manager Oliver Marmol said.

The game started after a 31-minute delay and the teams played through light rain and mist until conditions evaporated in the later innings, slower than the Orioles鈥� lead did. Baltimore took a 3-0 lead but offered no cover for Povich in the middle innings as the Cardinals thundered away. Before Winn led off the fourth with a single, the Cardinals had been limited to one hit and Povich had six strikeouts.

Eleven batters later, the Cardinals had six hits, three extra-base hits, eight baserunners, and a 5-4 lead.

Their 24th game with at least 10 hits leads the National League.

Ryan Helsley pitched around two hits in the ninth and faced the potential winning run at the plate. He got a groundout to claim his 12th save and second in as many nights against the Orioles. In the past six games, Helsley has three saves and a win.

Third time鈥檚 the crush

What technically started with a barrage in the fourth inning only accelerated for the Cardinals in the fifth against Orioles second-year starter Povich.

In the span of three batters 鈥� not one of which made the Baltimore dugout flinch, let alone rise to action 鈥� the Cardinals drilled Povich with two doubles and a home run to vaporize the lead the Orioles created early. Lars Nootbaar opened the fifth with a double that left his bat at 105 mph. Winn followed with a double that rang off the left-field wall at 103.3 mph. Then Donovan crushed a pitch into the landing above the right-field scoreboard, and that pitch left his bat at 103.2 mph. Everything was speeding up on Povich.

Not once during that exchange did the catcher visit Povich.

An infielder didn鈥檛 walk over to scrape mud.

A coach or manager never appeared from the dugout.

The lefty was just out there dodging lasers.

And it didn鈥檛 happen as suddenly as the Cardinals took the lead. Starting with Winn鈥檚 at-bat in the fourth inning and his second look at Povich, the exit-velocity jubilee was on. Winn hit a ball at 107.4 mph, and Donovan followed with a single at 104.6 mph. Both of them scored on Jordan Walker鈥檚 two-run RBI to carve into the Orioles鈥� lead.

Povich had vexed the Cardinals through three innings. Six of his nine strikeouts came from the first 10 batters he faced.

But the Cardinals started solving him with a second look.

A third look and they socked him.

It wasn鈥檛 until Donovan circled the bases to take a 5-4 lead that the Orioles got former Cardinals reliever Matt Bowman revving on the bullpen mound. Povich would face and retire three more batters 鈥� and allow a 106-mph flyout and another single before being rescued.

Multi-tasking Mikolas

As if preparing for his start and trying to hurl the Cardinals toward a series win Wednesday wasn鈥檛 enough on his schedule, Mikolas also had to man the phones and juggle weather reports as the Cardinals鈥� union representative.

He was the player who got alerts from officials about the forecast and about the plans for playing or delaying or postponing that evening鈥檚 game.

Teammates turned to him for info as they got ready.

At the same time he had to get ready for his 11th start of the season.

Jackson Holliday, Cardinals Hall of Famer Matt鈥檚 eldest son, led off the game for the Orioles and did what Mikolas has spent most of this season of reinvention trying to avoid. The veteran right-hander got ahead 0-2 on the young infielder, and then he let an off-speed pitch catch too much of the zone. Holliday tagged it to the left-field corner for a leadoff double. Mikolas then stranded him there by elevating a fastball to Adley Rutschman and getting two fly outs.

By the time Holliday came around again to double again off Mikolas, the Orioles already had a 2-0 lead and he was about to add to it.

Some slippery fielding cost the Cardinals.

Although one of the top defensive teams in the majors, the series in Baltimore has been uncharacteristically frayed in the field. A pair of errors on Monday night contributed to the loss. The rally to win Tuesday night had to overcome two misplays at first base. On Wednesday, the soggy conditions didn鈥檛 help. When Mikolas rushed a throw after fielding a bunt, the resulting error allowed the first run of the game to score.

The bunter, Cedric Mullins, stole second to get into scoring position.

He scored on Holliday鈥檚 second double in as many at-bats.

Baltimore opened up that 3-0 lead in the second inning against Mikolas. The Orioles added a run in the fourth when Mullins singled and scored on Dylan Carlson鈥檚 RBI hit to right field. Another error put runners at the corners with no outs before Mikolas retired Holliday for the first time and kept the top of the O鈥檚 lineup from adding on.

Mikolas allowed four runs on nine hits through his four innings.

Cue the bullpen blitz

With an off day in Texas secured by the rain and mist clearing and a lead after the fifth inning, Marmol unloaded the bullpen to hold it.

Into the game for the bottom of the fifth inning was usual setup man Kyle Leahy. The Orioles had the middle of their order up, and Leahy had to sidestep a couple of walks to keep Baltimore quiet in fifth. When leadoff hitter and left-handed batter Holliday came up in the sixth, the Cardinals turned to lefty John King (2-0) for three outs in that inning.

He struck out two.

And the relay race to Helsley was on.

Five Cardinals relievers had assignments in the final five innings of the game. King and Phil Maton finished their innings without allowing a hit. They combined to strikeout four. Maton pitched a perfect seventh as prelude to lefty JoJo Romero getting the eighth.

Before Helsley, the bullpen allowed one hit in four innings.