ST. LOUIS — In order to sweep the high-powered Orioles and end Baltimore’s streak of 106 consecutive regular-season series of two or more games without being swept, the Cardinals knew they might need something out of the ordinary to pull off the feat.
As it turns out, the Cards got the extraordinary with a Little League home run from gritty utility standout Brendan Donovan to take down the Orioles for the Redbirds’ first sweep of the season.
Donovan doubled in the tying runs in the sixth inning and then came all the way around to score on catcher James McCann’s throwing error as the Cardinals rallied for a 5-4 win over the Orioles in the series finale on Wednesday.
Combined with Monday’s 6-3 win and the 3-1 victory in Game 2 of the series which was suspended on Tuesday and completed earlier on Wednesday, the Orioles were swept for the first time since May of 2022, around the same time that star catcher Adley Rutschman got called up. The Orioles’ streak of 106 consecutive regular-season series of two-plus decisions without a sweep is the third longest in NL/AL history, trailing only the 124 straight regular-season series of two-plus decisions without a sweep by the 1942-44 Cardinals and the 115 sweep-less regular-season series or two-plus decisions by the 1906-09 Cubs.
Cardinals rookie shortstop Masyn Winn doubled and later scored in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to a personal best 13 games. He then homered on a 1-2 pitch in the seventh inning to extend the lead. Nolan Arenado, who was 2-for-4, got the sixth-inning rally started with a single. Orioles star shortstop Gunnar Henderson mishandled a potential double-play ball in the sixth, setting the stage for Donovan’s double and hustling run that propelled the Cards.
