J.J. Hardy on offense breaking out and his own contribution

In an attempt to get back to winning baseball after an extended run of losing, the Orioles beat the Chicage White Sox 10-6 Wednesday night. But they lost the next day and then they lost the series opener 11-2 Friday at home against St. Louis.

But they posted a 15-7 win on Saturday over the Cardinals. Will that be the win that sparks this team? After yesterday's game, I asked shortstop J.J. Hardy what the team needs to do to get on a roll moving forward.

"I think (we can) build off of this," Hardy said. "Sometimes it is just a matter of a game like this that can get you out of a funk. Hopefully, we can build off this."

For one day, the longball was back. Jonathan Schoop went 4-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs. The Orioles had hit just four homers in their previous six games before Saturday and then hit five. That ties the season high. They also hit five on April 12 at Boston.

For at least one day, the Orioles offense broke out.

"Yeah, that was nice," Hardy said. "To see what Schoopy did. That first inning (when Schoop made an error), then a couple of homers. We've been waiting for that and it's nice when that happens.

"I mean, I feel like we did a lot of good things. That's a good pitcher (Adam Wainwright). I faced him a lot over a lot of years. We hit some pretty good pitches, so I'm going to say that our guys did a pretty good job of trying not to do too much and getting the job done."

Hardy played a key role in the offense. He doubled in two runs during the Orioles' seven-run second inning. He added an RBI double in the seventh. So that is a three-RBI day. In his previous eight games, he had no RBIs and just two in his previous 20 games. This was just his second multi-hit game of June. It's been a tough year for Hardy at bat.

"I've been working hard. Not giving up. Just going to continue working and hopefully I can get out of this," he said.

This month, Hardy is batting .189/.204/.283. But he drove a couple of balls well on Saturday and also drew a walk in the win.

The Orioles are now 7-4 in interleague play and 5-1 at home versus National League teams. They are 21-10 against NL opponents since the beginning of the 2016 season.

Trey Mancini is 4-for-9 in this series with a homer. He now has a season-high eight-game hitting streak and is batting .419 (13-for-31) in that span with two homers and seven RBIs. In June, he is batting .339 with five doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs.

The Orioles' struggling pitching staff set a team record recently and extended it Saturday. They have set a dubious club record of having allowed five runs or more in 14 consecutive games. The Orioles actually broke the record on Thursday. The previous mark was 11 in a row from Aug. 22-Sept. 1, 2007.

This streak is tied for fifth most in the major leagues dating to 1913. The longest streak since then is 20 straight games by the 1924 Philadelphia Phillies. The O's pitchers need to keep the club from threatening that record.

Note from the farm: Single-A Frederick shortstop Ryan Mountcastle, who is having one of the best seasons of any player on the farm, has missed the last two games. He is out with slight left wrist sprain. It happened on Thursday night when a runner slid into him on a play at second base. Mountcastle is not expected to go on the disabled list.

The 20-year-old right-handed batter is hitting .314/.342/.549 with 24 doubles, a triple, 12 homers and 40 RBIs. The Carolina League All-Star game is set for Tuesday and Mountcastle is scheduled to play in that game. As of now, according to a club official, it appears he will.