Left-hander Cade Povich doesn’t know whether he’s pitching for his spot in the Orioles’ rotation. Trevor Rogers can be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk at any time after serving as the 27th man in Saturday’s doubleheader in Boston and tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings with two hits in Game 2. Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer and Charlie Morton are confirmed for the weekend series against the White Sox.
Having off-days Thursday and Monday gives interim manager Tony Mansolino and his staff the freedom to bump, skip or just stay in turn.
Povich can look like he won’t budge, as he did tonight in the first three innings, but the immovable object got knocked around after that in the Orioles’ 6-4 loss to the Cardinals before an announced crowd of 14,491 at Camden Yards.
A two-run fourth and three-run fifth spun the game in the Cardinals’ favor. The Orioles left 10 runners on base and lost their 12th series. Their record is 19-36.
Povich allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings, walking three batters and tying his season high with nine strikeouts. He struck out the side in the third inning to give him six - on three fastballs, a sinker, curveball and sweeper. Lars Nootbaar led off the game with a single and the Cardinals didn’t have another hit until Masyn Winn’s leadoff single in the fourth.
St. Louis loaded the bases with one out, Nolan Arenado flied to shallow left and Jordan Walker plated two runs with a ground ball into left field that trimmed the lead to 3-2. A walk reloaded the bases but Povich struck out Victor Scott II with a sweeper.
Back-to-back doubles in the fifth preceded Brendan Donovan’s home run, and everything in the inning was hit hard, with exit velocities of 106.2, 103.2, 103.3 and 105 mph. Two singles in the fourth were clocked at 107.4 and 104.6.
Tonight’s outing left Povich’s ERA at 5.29. He threw 96 pitches, 56 for strikes.
The Orioles went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position last night and were 3-for-16 tonight through the fifth. No one else reached second base until two outs in the ninth. Ryan O'Hearn was the potential winning run, but he bounced out.
O’Hearn's leadoff single in the second inning led to the game’s first run. He was 17-for-29 after that hit, which extended his streak to eight games. Ramón Urías singled to push his hitting streak to 11 games, and Cedric Mullins’ bunt single and a throwing error by starter Miles Mikolas gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals kept bouncing throws throughout the series. Maybe it’s the conditions.
Urías came home on Maverick Handley’s ground ball, the catcher’s third career RBI, and Mullins scored on Jackson Holliday’s second double in two innings. Holliday also singled in the ninth, and he's known for his dogged pursuit of base hits on Bark at the Park Night. He hit a grand slam on April 16 with his bernedoodle, Coconut, sitting in the stands.
The bottom of the order provided an immediate response to the Cardinals’ two-run top of the fourth. Mullins, Handley and Dylan Carlson singled to extend the lead to 4-2. Handley snapped an 0-for-20 streak.
The Cardinals had their own rapid response in the fifth.
Matt Bowman retired six of seven batters in his return to the Orioles. Andrew Kittredge inherited a runner on third base with two outs in the seventh and Iván Herrera doubled on the first pitch to give St. Louis a 6-4 lead.
The Orioles are 1-29 when trailing after the sixth and seventh, and 0-33 when behind after the eighth.