Zach Britton wasn't at his best, and the O's offense was held scoreless until the eighth inning in a 6-2 loss to the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
Britton (6-6) started off the season 5-1 but has just one win in his past 10 starts...his ERA is still a stellar 3.38 (the best of all the starters) but he hasn't had much run support lately, and that trend continued against the Cardinals, making their first-ever appearance at Camden Yards.
Britton was in an early hole after giving up three two-out runs in the second inning, but settled down before allowing a solo homer in the sixth. Britton was charged with four runs on seven hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings, striking out three. He was pulled after a 28-minute rain delay in favor of Clay Rapada, who gave up a run in the seventh. Jason Berken, in relief of Rapada, gave up a solo homer to the first batter he faced and would have given up a two-run bomb in the ninth if it wasn't for a fantastic catch by Luke Scott, who injured his knee on the play...
J.J. Hardy put the O's on the board with his 11th homer of the season, a solo shot to left field in the eighth inning. Nick Markakis followed with a single and came home on Adam Jones' RBI double down the right field line. Markakis has now matched his career-best streak, hitting safely in 17 straight games...
The Birds (35-41) are once again a season-worst six games under .500, and turn to Chris Jakubauskas to right the sinking ship on Wednesday night. Jakubauskas will be facing Lance Berkman for the first time since Berkman struck Jakubauskas in the head with a line drive, ending his 2010 season...
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