masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles (32-34) host the St. Louis Cardinals (31-35) this afternoon in the second game of this series and of a seven-game homestand.
It began last night with St. Louis bashing a season-high five homers and scoring a season-high 11 runs to beat the Orioles 11-2. St. Louis outhit the Orioles 14-5 and scored seven runs from the sixth inning on to turn the game into a blowout.
The Orioles run of blowout losses continues and they have been outscored 82-31 in losing eight of their past nine…

The Orioles (32-34) host the St. Louis Cardinals (31-35) this afternoon in the second game of this series and of a seven-game homestand.

It began last night with St. Louis bashing a season-high five homers and scoring a season-high 11 runs to beat the Orioles 11-2. St. Louis outhit the Orioles 14-5 and scored seven runs from the sixth inning on to turn the game into a blowout.

The Orioles run of blowout losses continues and they have been outscored 82-31 in losing eight of their past nine games. The eight losses have come by five, six, 13, 11, three, five, three and nine runs. Over longer stretches, the Orioles have lost 10 of 13 and 18 of their past 25 games.

Batting ninth last night, St. Louis second baseman Paul DeJong had three hits, three runs, three RBIs and a home run. The Cardinals’ ninth-place hitters have driven in 37 runs on the year, tops among all teams in the majors with the New York Yankees (33) and Tampa Bay Rays (33) being the next closest. Their nine homers out of the No. 9 spot are second in MLB to the Rays (10) and their .405 slugging percentage is fourth in all of baseball.

St. Louis went 12-12 April, 13-13 during May and are off to a 6-10 start in June. The Cardinals 31-35 start is their slowest since 2007 when they started out 30-36 in their first 66 games.

On the mound today for the Orioles is left-hander Wade Miley (2-4, 3.97) who will be making his 14th start. In his past two games, Miley gave up four runs in 2 2/3 against Pittsburgh and allowed six hits and six runs in 2 1/3 on Monday in Chicago. After that game Miley, to say the least, was not pleased.

“I just sucked,” Miley said that night. “Simple as that. “Everything I feel like I threw up there they put a barrel on. That is all there is to it. That game is on me. We’ve got to be better as a starting staff. We have to be better individually. That is not acceptable…”We’ve (the starting rotation) got to go out there and do our jobs. We’re not doing our jobs right now. It’s embarrassing on all of us. I mean, it’s definitely embarrassing for the starting staff.”

Right-hander Adam Wainwright (7-4, 4.73) will start this afternoon for the Cardinals. In four starts between May 14 and June 1, Wainwright gave up one run over 26 1/3, going 4-0 with an ERA of 0.34. But then he allowed nine runs over 3 2/3 two starts ago to the Reds and he gave up two runs in five innings his last start versus Philadelphia

Lefty batters are hitting .295 against him and right-handers are batting .293. He is 2-3 with a 7.28 ERA in six road starts.

With a single in his first at-bat and a home run in the ninth inning Friday night, first sacker Trey Mancini extends his current hit streak to seven games, hitting .423 (11-for-26). Mancini is hitting .326 (31-for-95) against right-handed pitchers. He is batting .333 (17-for-51) with four doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs and an OPS of 1.017 in the month of June.

Outfielder Hyun Soo Kim has hit safely in nine of his last 14 games since May 22, batting .357/.367/.429 in that span.