St. Louis gets early lead, pulls away late to beat O's and avoid sweep

There were no homers this time. Not enough clutch hits either. And on a day when the Orioles were playing catch-up from the start, they never did quite catch up and the Cardinals pulled away late. St. Louis scored two runs in the first today and three in the ninth on their way to an 8-3 over the Orioles to avoid getting swept. Four times today the Orioles fell behind by two runs and three times they pulled back within a run. But they never did tie or take the lead as they fall to 67-50. Peter Bourjos hit a three-run homer off Zach Britton in the ninth as St. Louis added to its last two-run lead. That ended Britton's run of 27 consecutive scoreless appearances over 35 1/3 innings at Camden Yards. The scoreless innings streak is a club record. O's starter Kevin Gausman allowed two runs and four hits and threw 37 pitches in the first inning. He took the loss, going five innings, giving up eight hits and three runs. Gausman is 6-4 with an ERA of 3.90. This ends his stretch of three consecutive quality starts. Nick Markakis went 4-for-5 with four singles and an RBI for the Orioles. He tied his season-high for hits for the fourth time. Over his last 10 games, Markakis is batting .436 (17-for-39). This was Markakis' 427th career multi-hit game and he moved past Brady Anderson into fourth place on the O's all-time list. The Orioles had chances for more runs today. But they went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Chris Davis went 0-for-4 and stranded six runners. Orioles manager Buck Showalter was ejected from the game by second base umpire Jeff Nelson in the seventh after a reversed call following a St. Louis challenge. J.J. Hardy was a late scratch from today's game due a left thumb sprain. He went 4-for-7 with two homers and five RBIs in the series. The Orioles lost for just the second time in eight games, are 9-5 in interleague games and 32-26 at home. The homestand continues Monday night when the Orioles begin a three-game series against the New York Yankees. Bud Norris (9-7, 3.68 ERA) faces Chris Capuano (1-2, 3.91 ERA).