Another night without a clutch hit as O's fall to St. Louis

The Orioles have failed to follow up their series victory over Cincinnati with more momentum as they have now lost the first two games of the series with St. Louis. Chris Carpenter pitched a complete-game, seven-hitter on 132 pitches as the Cardinals beat the Orioles 5-1. He is now 3-7 with an ERA of 4.00. The Orioles fell behind in the second inning for the second night in a row and they failed to get clutch hits for the second straight night. After going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position in Tuesday's 6-2 loss, tonight they went 1-for-9 and the one hit didn't even score a run. The Orioles wasted a bases-loaded, no out chance in the last of the fifth when they trailed 5-1. Nick Markakis grounded out back to the mound, then Adam Jones flied to shallow left. Vladimir Guerrero lined to right on a 2-1 pitch to end a frustrating inning. Guerrero went 1-for-4 with a single and has just four extra-base hits over his last 34 games. The Orioles are 9-for-62 (.145) when batting with runners in scoring position over the last seven games. With this loss, the Orioles fall to 35-42 and its the first time all year they have been seven games under .500. They scored 17 runs in the series with the Reds but have just three runs in two nights versus St. Louis.