Siani hits his first homer, drives in four as Cardinals beat Orioles

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Michael Siani hit his first career home run and drove in four runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 on Monday night.

Siani’s three-run homer into the right field bullpen capped a four-run fourth inning that gave the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. It was the first homer in 91 career plate appearances for Siani, who spent parts of the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds before being selected off waivers by the Cardinals last September.

“Just stay confident in myself, taking it one at-bat at a time, keeping it simple, you know, trusting my approach is going to be good, especially with runners in scoring position,” Siani said. “You know tonight getting those two hits is great and builds confidence and helps the team out.”

Sianni’s homer came two pitches after taking a ball down 0-2 that the Orioles thought was strike three, but home plate umpire Laz Diaz called ball one on the Dean Kremer fastball.

“I didn’t know it was a missed call until after, but I’m not here to complain,” Kremer said. “Just didn’t execute after that. Showed him one too many fastballs and he timed up that next one.”

Sonny Gray gave up three runs, just one earned, in 5 2/3 innings as the Cardinals won for the sixth time in their last eight games. Gray (6-2) allowed three hits, walked two and struck out six.

Gray took a no-hitter into the sixth only to have it unceremoniously ended by a three-run homer by Gunnar Henderson to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 5-3. Henderson’s 417-foot blast to the left-center field bleachers scored Cedric Mullins and Jorge Mateo, each of whom reached on consecutive fielding errors by St. Louis shortstop Masyn Winn. It was Henderson’s major league-leading 16th of the season and his fourth in as many games.

JoJo Romero got the final out of the sixth after Gray surrendered hits to Ryan O’Hearn and Jordan Westburg following the homer. Gray threw 31 of his 88 pitches in the sixth.

“I felt great the whole time,” Gray said. “That’s just a long inning deep in the game. I mean, I almost doubled my pitch count one inning. I felt good. I felt great going out for the sixth. I felt great probably 20 to 25 pitches through the sixth and then like I said, the last five or so I threw I just felt like that’s just a lot of pitches.”

Romero pitched a scoreless seventh and John King and Andrew Kittredge combined for a scoreless eighth, before Ryan Helsley earned his 14th save in 15 chances.

Kremer (3-4) lasted just four innings, tying a season-low, as the Orioles lost their fourth game in their last seven. Kremer allowed five runs on six hits, walked three and struck out two.

“I just didn’t think he had his best fastball tonight, honestly,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “I know he was getting ahead of hitters early, had a tough time putting guys away, the missed call on the punch out before the homer was big.”

Siani singled home Nolan Gorman to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the second.

“Siani’s taking really good at-bats,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “A big homer today, the clubhouse is feeling pretty good about that now … he plays the game the right way and defensively, he’s elite.”

Winn ignited the four-run fourth with an RBI double to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games. Winn added an RBI single in the sixth to make it 6-3 Cardinals.

TRANSACTIONS

The Cardinals selected the contract of RHP Ryan Loutos and optioned RHP Chris Roycroft to Triple-A Memphis. St. Louis also designated 1B/OF Alfonso Rivas III for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Giovanny Gallegos (right shoulder impingement) is scheduled to throw another bullpen on Tuesday and RHP Keynan Middleton (right forearm flexor strain) is scheduled to appear in back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday as his rehab progresses at Double-A Springfield.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals will send RHP Lance Lynn (1-2, 4.17 ERA) to the mound against RHP Kyle Brandish (0-0, 2.63) on Tuesday night. Lynn settled in to work five innings after allowing four first inning runs in a loss to the Angels last Wednesday. Brandish earned his first career win in his only prior start against St. Louis on May 10, 2022.

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