ST. LOUIS — As soon as Coby Mayo came to the plate with runners on base and a left-handed reliever on the mound, this possibility grew. It is no stretch to write that Mayo may be the best hitter in baseball against southpaw pitching this year. And he did it again.
Mayo destroyed a baseball, sending it deep into the bleachers beyond the left-center field fence at Busch Stadium. And, with Gunnar Henderson’s run-scoring double an inning later, the Orioles had a real chance to steal the finale in St. Louis.
They’ll have to settle for winning two of three games. The Cardinals added one more run in the bottom of the eighth, building a bit of a cushion for themselves, and they closed out a 7-5 victory to avoid the sweep.
“I think we did a good job putting up runs this series, obviously, and just need to keep that momentum going,” Mayo said.
With the Cleveland Guardians not playing Thursday, Baltimore might’ve moved within two games of the final American League wild-card place. Instead, the Orioles are three games back with a month to play. They continue this key road trip with three games this weekend against the Athletics before three more against the Colorado Rockies next week.
That schedule is advantageous. Neither of those teams has performed well this season. Then again, Thursday’s series finale was an advantageous matchup, too, because the Cardinals were forced to run with a bullpen game.
Read More
The Cardinals have been struck by a slew of pitching injuries, and the trickle down meant piecing together their pitching plans Thursday. Right-hander Gordon Graceffo handled bulk duties sublimely. He faced nine batters, struck out four of them, and sent all nine down in order.
“The first guy just mowed right through us,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “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, especially getting ahead early, which forced us to swing at some tough pitches out of the zone and chase.”
The rest of their relievers kept the Orioles off kilter, with the exception of a Colton Cowser sacrifice fly in the fifth. Then Mayo came up with two on against left-hander Caleb Ferguson, and he did what he so often does against lefties.
Mayo has a 1.109 on-base-plus-slugging percentage against left-handers this year, and his 14 homers against them are tied with Matt Olson for the most in the majors. Mayo also has more homers than singles (13) against lefties this season.
“Extra-base hits are great, singles are great, getting on base is great, but when I’m hitting the ball pure off the barrel, my swing is meant to hit the ball in the air,” Mayo said. “When I hit it on the barrel, ball’s in the air, usually equals homer.”
In the eighth, Jackson Holliday singled and stole second base, which allowed him to score on Henderson’s double. That was Henderson’s first RBI since Aug. 14, and it was the shortstop’s first RBI not coming from a homer since July 31.
Henderson attempted an aggressive baserunning maneuver later in that inning. With one out, Samuel Basallo hit a one-hop ground ball to right-hander George Soriano. Soriano looked to third to see if Henderson was breaking from second. With Henderson running, Soriano and Blaze Jordan nabbed Henderson on a close play.
Albernaz said Henderson’s first instinct was to take third, and he was OK with the decision because he didn’t hesitate. Plus, his large secondary lead may have resulted in him being caught even if he tried to head back to second.
With a left-handed hitter at the plate, Jordan played over in a mild shift. It was then a footrace to third base, and Henderson lost. (Jordan also left with an injury after the collision.)
“He knew where Blaze Jordan was playing, so he was just trying to beat him to the bag,” Albernaz said. “That was his mindset, because he felt like he, with his aggressive secondary, got caught in no-man’s-land.”
Had Henderson been safe at third, the Orioles would have had a good chance at tying the game with a sacrifice play. But they couldn’t level the score, and then right-hander Anthony Nunez allowed one run in the bottom half of the frame to widen the gap for closer Riley O’Brien.
For the second straight game, the Orioles didn’t receive the sort of start they hoped for from one of their key pitchers. On Wednesday, right-hander Kyle Bradish allowed a season-high seven runs. And in Thursday’s finale left-hander Trevor Rogers fell victim to the long ball.
The Cardinals recorded three straight hits off Rogers to begin the second inning, and the third was a three-run homer from Jordan. He didn’t miss Rogers’ hanging changeup, which fluttered in at 85 mph and sat in the middle of the zone.
“It was good pitch selection, really bad execution,” Rogers said. “When you throw a changeup middle-middle, it’s pretty much like a BP fastball at that point.”
And, in the fourth inning, former Oriole Ramón Urías added to St. Louis’ lead. He clubbed a two-run homer off Rogers to build a five-run cushion. Before Rogers left the mound, the Cardinals scratched across one more.
Rogers finished with seven strikeouts and only one walk, but he conceded seven hits and six runs in five innings. It put the onus on the bullpen to carry the load once more, just after that relief corps covered 4 2/3 scoreless innings Wednesday.
For the most part, the Orioles’ relievers gave their offense a chance. The late surge made it an interesting ending. But Baltimore will now head to Sacramento on the back of a loss in the finale with every game magnified.
“I think we’ve been playing some good baseball and just want to keep that up,” Mayo said. “Obviously, you want to win every game possible, just because of the spot we’re in right now. You’re trying to win every game.”
This article has been updated.
Comments
Welcome to The Banner's subscriber-only commenting community. Please review our community guidelines.