Michael Siani hit his first career home run and drove in four runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
Siani’s three-run homer into the right-field bullpen capped a four-run fourth inning, giving the Cardinals a 5-0 lead.
It was the first home run for Siani in 91 career plate appearances. He spent parts of the 2022 and 2023 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds before being picked up off waivers by the Cardinals last September.
“Just stay confident in myself, taking it one at-bat at a time, keeping it simple, you know, trusting my approach is going to be good, especially with runners in scoring position,” Siani said. “You know tonight getting those two hits is great and builds confidence and helps the team out.”
Siani’s homer came two pitches after he took a ball on an 0-2 count that the Orioles thought was strike three, but home plate umpire Laz Diaz called it a ball on the Dean Kremer fastball.
“I didn’t know it was a missed call until after, but I’m not here to complain,” Kremer said. “Just didn’t execute after that. Showed him one too many fastballs and he timed up that next one.”
Sonny Gray gave up three runs, just one earned, in 5 2/3 innings as the Cardinals won for the sixth time in their last eight games. Gray (6-2) allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out six.
Gray took a no-hitter into the sixth, but it ended with a three-run homer by Gunnar Henderson, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 5-3.
Henderson’s 417-foot blast to the left-center field bleachers scored Cedric Mullins and Jorge Mateo, who both reached on consecutive fielding errors by St. Louis shortstop Masyn Winn.
It was Henderson’s major league-leading 16th home run of the season and his fourth in as many games.
JoJo Romero got the final out of the sixth after Gray gave up hits to Ryan O’Hearn and Jordan Westburg following the homer. Gray threw 31 of his 88 pitches in the sixth inning.
“I felt great the whole time,” Gray said. “That’s just a long inning deep in the game. I mean, I almost doubled my pitch count one inning. I felt good. I felt great going out for the sixth. I felt great probably 20 to 25 pitches through the sixth and then like I said, the last five or so I threw I just felt like that’s just a lot of pitches.”
Romero pitched a scoreless seventh, and John King and Andrew Kittredge combined for a scoreless eighth, before Ryan Helsley earned his 14th save in 15 chances.
