Richie Palacios came off the bench to hit two solo home runs on Tuesday, helping Adam Wainwright earn career victory No. 199 in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 5-2 win over the host Baltimore Orioles.
Wainwright (4-11), who had been stuck on 198 wins since June 17, allowed two runs on seven hits over five innings. He struck out three and walked three.
The St. Louis veteran bested Baltimore starter John Means, who was making his first appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2022. Means (0-1) worked five innings and gave up three runs on four hits, including a pair of solo home runs. He fanned one without issuing a walk.
Gunnar Henderson had two hits and a walk for the Orioles (91-53). Baltimore went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 baserunners.
Paul Goldschmidt hit his 24th homer of the season for the Cardinals (64-81), and Ryan Helsley pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save.
Means retired the first two batters he faced before Goldschmidt smacked an 0-1 fastball to center to give Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
St. Louis added a run in the second when Willson Contreras singled, advanced to third on a single and a fielder’s choice and scored Jordan Walker’s sacrifice fly.
In the fourth, Palacios, who entered this game as a pinch runner in the second inning when Nolan Gorman left due to hamstring tightness, homered to right to make it 3-0.
The Orioles got two back in the fifth. Adley Rutschman led off with a walk and went to third on Henderson’s single. Anthony Santander lined a single to right to drive in Rutschman, and Henderson scored when Ryan O’Hearn grounded into a force out.
Palacios struck again with one out in the seventh, homering to right off Jorge Lopez. It was his third of the season. The Cardinals weren’t done, as Walker walked and later scored on a single by Lars Nootbaar off Cionel Perez to make it 5-2.
Baltimore had runners on first and second with no outs in the bottom of the seventh against Matthew Liberatore but did not score.
–Field Level Media
