Cardinals 9, Orioles 6
Lance Berkman homered twice to reach 20 on the season as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals completed a three-game sweep with a 9-6 road victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
Ryan Theriot and Tony Cruz each added two hits and an RBI for the Cardinals, who have won three straight for the first time since taking four in a row from June 3-7.
St. Louis made up three games on the slumping Milwaukee Brewers during the series to move back into a tie for first place in the National League Central.
Baltimore lefthander Brian Matusz (1-4) continued to struggle, allowing eight runs on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. The 24-year-old has lost four starts in a row, posting a 13.50 ERA over that span.
The Cardinals grabbed a pair of runs on a single and an sacrifice fly in the second before adding a two-run blast from Berkman in the third. Theriot singled in a run iin front of Jon Jay, who blasted a three-run shot to the opposite field in left to end Matusz’s night.
Jaime Garcia (7-3) stuck around long enough to get the win and Fernando Salas picked up his 13th save of the season.