O's offense stalls in series-opening loss to St. Louis

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

June 28, 2011, 6:20pm

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The St. Louis Cardinals had lost five of six games and 12 of their last 15 before tonight's series opener at Camden Yards. Plus, they had the highest ERA in the majors during the month of June. Despite that, the Cardinals beat the Orioles 6-2 in tonight's series opener. Kyle Lohse, who entered with a career interleague ERA of 5.93, pitched five shutout innings before a rain delay. Lohse, who gave up four hits with one walk and two strikeouts, improved to 8-4 with an ERA of 2.78. The Orioles, who hit nine homers and scored 17 runs over the weekend against the Reds, were held to eight hits. Zach Britton, who has just one win over his last 10 starts, took the loss. He gave up four runs and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. St. Louis got three straight two-out, RBI singles to take a 3-0 lead in the second. Later, Colby Rasmus and Matt Holliday added solo homers. J.J. Hardy spoiled the shutout bid when he homered off Ryan Franklin in the 8th and Adam Jones added an RBI double. It was Hardy's 11th homer on the year and ninth in 23 games in June. He has now homered in nine straight series. The Orioles fall to 35-41 and 2-2 on this homestand. They are 6-7 versus the National League and 11-12 in June.