Cedric Mullins hits third career grand slam as O's rally, beat St. Louis

It was a night where the Orioles trailed for most of the first 4 ½ innings. Their starting pitcher lasted just 4 1/3 innings and last-place St. Louis was trying to ruin the start of a very important week-long homestand.

Then Cedric Mullins entertained us and brought Camden Yards to life with one swing.

Mullins hit his second grand slam of the year and the third of his career to put the Orioles ahead 8-5 and they beat St. Louis tonight 11-5 at Oriole Park to improve to 91-52.

The Orioles have won eight of nine, 14 of 18, 17 of 22 and 20 of the last 27 games. They are 28-11 in the past 39 games as they opened this three-game series with their 46^th comeback win of 2023.

The O’s had scored twice in the second to lead 2-1, but St. Louis got to O’s starter Dean Kremer for the lead scoring three in the third and adding one more in the fifth.

The O’s were down 5-3 as they came to bat in the last of the fifth. Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson singled ahead of Anthony Santander’s strikeout. Ryan O’Hearn lined one to center that went for an RBI double cutting their deficit to 5-4. When Ryan Mountcastle walked the bases were loaded and St. Louis replaced starter Dakota Hudson with ‘pen righty Andre Pallante.

He had allowed just four homers in 58 1/3 innings on the year.

Mullins got down 1-2 in the count and hit a low slider high to right field. It carried out over the grounds crew’s shed for an 8-5 lead. The drive, which went 370 feet, was his 14^th homer and made Mullins now 4-for-11 this year with the bases loaded with two homers and 16 RBIs.

His first slam of the season came April 25 against Boston. The O’s have hit six slams this year as earlier Mountcastle, Mullins, Santander, Gunnar Henderson and Santander again had connected with the bases loaded.

When Henderson hit a 422-foot homer off Pallante in the sixth, the O’s had a 9-5 lead. Henderson, who continues his push for the American League Rookie of the Year, hit his 25^th home run.

The O’s fell behind in the middle innings as starter Dean Kremer allowed seven hits and five runs in 4 1/3 innings. It was just the seventh time this year he threw 4 2/3 or less and the first time he did that in back-to-back starts. He had allowed three runs or less in eight straight starts and had an ERA of 1.82 in his last five starts and 3.40 in 15 starts since June 13.

But Willson Contreras with an RBI single gave St. Louis the lead in the first inning. Baltimore went ahead 2-1 in the second. Mullins and Aaron Hicks singled with two outs and Mullins advanced to third and then scored on Nolan Arenado’s throwing error at third base. Ramón Urías singled to give the O’s a 2-1 lead.

But St. Louis put together three runs on four hits off Kremer in the third to lead 4-2 on RBI singles by Arenado, Contreras and Jordan Walker.

Kremer was pulled after allowing an infield single and getting an out in the fifth but the fifth St. Louis run scored – charged to his record – on Alec Burleson’s single off lefty DL Hall.

Kremer did not get a decision as his ERA increased to 4.25. He walked four to tie a season-high in an 88-pitch night.

The Orioles win the series opener in their final series before an AL East showdown with the Rays. They improved to 32-15 in series openers. They improved to 37-17 in the second half, reducing their magic number to clinch a playoff spot to four and to 16 to clinch the AL East title.

The Baltimore defense, as it often does, impacted the win. Ryan O'Hearn made a diving catch in right in the fourth to end that inning and save a run. In the seventh, Austin Hays replaced O'Hearn, going to left as Hicks moved to right. An inning later, Hays made an inning-ending diving catch to probably save two runs from scoring. 

Hays also added a two-run single in the eighth to complete the scoring. 

The O's offense has now produced 48 runs in the last five games, 74 in nine games and 155 in the last 22 games since Aug. 18. The O's are 17-5 in that span. Hicks and Henderson each had three hits. The O's were 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position. 

One more win versus St. Louis would give them wins in eight straight series and in 12 of their past 14.