Cardinals’ player Michael Siani, was suspended and fined $20k for violating the game’s regulations… See more
ST. LOUIS — Michael Siani hit his first MLB home run and drove in a career-best four runs and Sonny Gray threw five no-hit innings as the Cardinals defeated the Orioles, 6-3, on Monday night at Busch Stadium.
Siani, who made the Opening Day roster only because of injuries to Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson, got a break in the bottom of the fourth inning when an 0-2 pitch low in the strike zone was called a ball.
Two pitches later, the center fielder drilled a Statcast-projected 396-foot shot into the Cardinals’ bullpen for a three-run homer that put St. Louis up 5-0.
Gray was dominant over the game’s first five innings, limiting the Orioles to just two walks while striking out six. However, he ran into trouble in the sixth when rookie shortstop Masyn Winn was uncharacteristically tagged for errors on back-to-back plays — a fly ball in shallow left-center and on a hard-hit grounder.
Orioles star Gunnar Henderson then made the Cardinals pay and ended the no-hit bid by drilling his fourth home run in as many games to cut the Orioles’ deficit to 5-3.
Henderson hit a hanging sweeper from Gray, who used that pitch to make a runner-up finish to the American League Cy Young Award in 2023 with Minnesota. The Henderson homer was the first off Gray’s sweeper since 2022.
He came into Monday having thrown 100 sweepers without giving up an extra-base hit, per Baseball Savant. He threw 578 sweepers in 2023 and allowed just four extra-base hits — none of them home runs.
The Cardinals, winners of six of their last eight games, got big-time production from the bottom of their order. Winn — the No. 8 hitter — was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Siani, the No. 9 hitter, singled in a run in the second inning and smashed the decisive three-run blast in the fourth.
