BALTIMORE _ Jonathan Schoop had to be kicking himself after his two-out error in the first inning Saturday allowed the St. Louis Cardinals to take the early lead. But he made up for it and then some with one of the biggest games of his promising career.
Schoop balanced the defensive books when he made a terrific play to rob outfielder Tommy Pham of a leadoff hit in the second. He then had two hits, a run and an RBI during a seven-run Orioles bat-around in the bottom of that inning.
It would have been a nice game if he had stopped there, but Schoop was just getting started. He would homer in each of his next two at-bats to tie a career high with four hits and lead the Orioles to a 15-7 victory before 27,788 that was their biggest offensive eruption of the season. It was their most runs since an 18-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 16, 2015.
"You've got to forget about the past," Schoop said. "I know I made a tough error, but we came back and scored runs for Wade (Miley). You try to forget about it and get better."
The football score notwithstanding, it wasn't an easy victory. Miley had a nine-run lead through four innings, but the Cardinals inched back with a couple of middle-inning home runs. The Cardinals (31-36) actually had the potential tying run on deck in a three-run sixth when Mychal Givens came on get out of a bases-loaded situation.
Miley pitched 52/3 innings and gave up six runs (five earned) to earn his third victory of the year, but raised his ERA from 3.97 to 4.29. He still looked at it as a step forward after failing to complete three innings in each of his previous two starts.
"Absolutely," he said. "I made a lot better pitches today. There were some pitches that weren't so bad that got hit. The homer to right-center early _ the two-run homer _ I tip my hat. I executed the pitch. I threw where I wanted it and he just stayed on it and hit it over there. So, definitely a step in the right direction."
The Orioles (33-34) hammered a total of five home runs _ three of them in the first two innings against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright. He took the mound with a lead and retired the first two batters he faced before allowing back-to-back homers to Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo. He would get just three more outs and leave without completing the second inning for the first time in his major league career.
Even with the victory, the Orioles have won just two of their past 10 games, but those two victories have come over the past four days while the first-place New York Yankees have lapsed into a five-game losing streak. So the victory moved the Orioles back to within 5{ games of first place and the big offensive performance took some heat off the inconsistent lineup
"It was a really good feeling," Schoop said. "We've been doing it for four years already and it's really good when you win. It's a really good feeling and we want to do it more. We want to get better and try to win more games."
