ST. LOUIS -- With a pitching staff under siege by injuries, innings limits and sporadic ineffectiveness, the Cardinals entered Thursday’s bullpen game needing all the help from their batting order that they could get.
The early run support came on a pair of loud swings by Blaze Jordan and Ramón Urías to put some wind behind the sails of the fleet of Cardinal arms destined to navigate the series finale against the Orioles at Busch Stadium.
With six different pitchers combining to cover the nine innings, the Cardinals held on to beat the Orioles, 7-5.
The rookie third baseman Jordan planted a three-run blast onto Freese’s Lawn to open the game’s scoring in the bottom of the second. Jordan later left the game with what appeared to be an injury to his left leg following a collision at third with baserunner Gunnar Henderson.
Cardinals reliever George Soriano aggressively cut down the lead runner, the potential tying run, for the second out in the top of the eighth. But Jordan paid the toll, leaving the field gingerly with the trainer in tow after an on-field evaluation.
Still, Jordan’s third home run of the campaign buoyed Gordon Graceffo’s longest outing of the season.
Urías showcased his penchant for a power swing early in his first season with the Cardinals, blasting two home runs across his first 15 at-bats to start the year. But after nearly four months on the injured list with multiple elbow injuries, the veteran utility infielder had to wait a while to produce more fireworks.
It came in Thursday’s fourth inning, with a two-run home run off Trevor Rogers to extend the Cardinals’ advantage to 5-0.
The early cushion is what the Cardinals needed to settle into the game on the pitching side. Graceffo turned in about as perfect of a performance as manager Oliver Marmol could have hoped for from his opener, rolling through the Baltimore lineup cleanly with four strikeouts -- nine up, nine down -- to kickstart the bullpen game.