The surging Baltimore Orioles will try to keep their offense rolling when they continue their road series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

The Orioles defeated the Cardinals 5-3 in the opener of the three-game set at Busch Stadium on Tuesday.

After scoring just 62 runs in April, the Orioles have 45 in May. They come into this game leading the American League with a .293 team batting average this month.

The Orioles, who finished 52-110 last season, opened this season by losing 14 of 20 games. But they have won seven of their last 10 after catching fire at the plate.

“It’s just a little bit different this year,” Orioles first baseman Trey Mancini told MASN. “These guys have been here for a while and they know they belong. So instead of trying to make a name for themselves or stay here, they know they belong. Now it’s kind of go time.

“A lot of guys are showing they belong here. It’s awesome to see.”

During a 10-game homestand the Orioles won two of three from the Boston Red Sox, split four games with the Minnesota Twins and took two of three against the Kansas City Royals.

“That’s what our goal is, to probably win every series,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “On the homestand we split with a good club in the Twins and won two series. Happy with how we played.”

The Orioles will start Spenser Watkins (0-0, 3.22 ERA), who has yet to work more than five innings this season. In his last outing, Watkins allowed three runs on seven hits, two walks and a hit batter in 4 2/3 innings during a 5-3 victory over the Twins.

Watkins, who signed as a minor league free agent with the Orioles last season, will make his first career outing against the Cardinals.

The Cardinals have lost three straight games. They will start Miles Mikolas (2-1, 1.53 ERA) after having Packy Naughton fill in Tuesday with Adam Wainwright still in COVID-19 protocols.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol elected to give Mikolas a fifth day of rest instead of having him fill in for Wainwright.

“We were in a pretty good stretch of games there where it was 20 in a row and then 34 in 35,” Marmol said. “This early, giving that extra day of rest, playing the long game was more important to us than getting Miles a start (Tuesday).”

Naughton lasted just 3 1/3 innings Tuesday, forcing Marmol to handle his bullpen carefully.

“Matchups went out the window as you’re trying to stay fresh for tomorrow,” Marmol said.

Mikolas has allowed two runs or fewer in each start and worked five or more innings in his last five. He earned a 5-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants in his last start despite allowing seven hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings.

“On a personal level, I feel like I was a little all over the place, all over the zone,” he said. “Everything they hit hard was an out and everything they hit soft kind of got through. So, that was an odd day.”

Mikolas has made one career start against the Orioles. He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

The Houston Astros will try to increase their winning streak to nine games when they play the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

Houston is coming off a 5-0 win in the series opener Tuesday. Justin Verlander took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and finished just five outs shy of accomplishing the milestone for the fourth time in his career.

Gio Urshela of the Twins broke up the no-hit bid with a single to right field with one out in the eighth. Verlander, 39, wound up going eight innings, giving up just the one hit, walking two and striking out five to improve to 4-1 and lower his ERA to 1.55.

“I have no regrets about throwing that pitch,” Verlander said. “If you’re going to give it up, that’s the way you want to do it. Opposite-field single. Nice hitting by him. Good pitch by me. Tip your cap and move on.”

The performance marked the latest pitching gem for the Astros, who have four shutouts during their eight-game streak. They have limited opponents to two runs apiece in the other four victories during the streak.

Minnesota will try to find a spark at the plate despite the recent injury absences of two top players. Carlos Correa went on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday because of a bruised right middle finger, and Byron Buxton has missed a pair of games because of a hip injury.

Despite missing Correa and Buxton as of late, Minnesota is 3-1 on its nine-game homestand.

Astros right-hander Jose Urquidy (2-1, 4.56 ERA) will try to follow up on Verlander’s masterful outing from the series opener.

Urquidy is coming off his best performance of the season in which he pitched six scoreless innings against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday. He allowed six hits, walked one and struck out three, and he threw 60 of 91 pitches for strikes.

This will be Urquidy’s second career start against Minnesota. He allowed three runs on four hits in seven innings in his first meeting last June, but he finished with a no-decision.

Minnesota will counter with right-hander Chris Archer (0-0, 3.26), who is looking for his first win with his new team. Archer joined the Twins as a free agent before the start of the season after pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates for nine seasons combined.

Archer has made five starts for the Twins. He has given up 16 hits in 19 1/3 innings, walking nine and striking out 20.

In eight career starts against Houston, Archer is 5-2 with a 2.15 ERA. He has 57 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings.

Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena will try to stay hot at the plate after notching two RBIs in the series opener.

Pena’s success has not surprised his predecessor, Correa.

“He’s everything I knew he could be,” Correa said. “I know talent when I see it, and from the moment I saw him taking ground balls and hitting BP, when you look at his athleticism and his body, he’s going to be a superstar in this game.”

Minnesota is 11-5 at home this season as it looks for a bounce-back performance in the second installment of a three-game series. Houston is 10-7 on the road.

–Field Level Media

Boston manager Alex Cora may have to keep shaving if his team keeps winning.

Cora shaved his beard, and the Red Sox responded by beating the Atlanta Braves 9-4 to end their five-game losing streak Tuesday night.

He could be clean-shaven again when the teams complete their two-game series on Wednesday night in Atlanta.

“I don’t think hitting or whatever is about shaving, but hey …” Cora said.

The win, sparked by Rafael Devers’ grand slam, ended Boston’s longest losing streak since July 29-Aug. 3, 2021. Boston is trying to win its first series since taking two of three from the Detroit Tigers on April 11-13.

The Red Sox have won five straight in Atlanta and improved to 16-9 against the Braves since the start of 2015.

A pair of right-handers will start in the series finale. Boston will send veteran Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 2.94 ERA) against Atlanta’s Ian Anderson (3-1, 4.01).

Eovaldi allowed three runs in five innings in his last start on Friday against the Chicago White Sox. Eovaldi ranks among the American League leaders with 9.62 strikeouts per nine innings and 1.60 walks per nine innings. He issued three walks to the White Sox, the first time he’s given up more than two since June 9, 2021.

“I know there’s the stats the third time through the lineup how much better the batters are handling you,” Eovaldi said. “I think it helps that I have five pitches that I can keep circulating through and keep them off balance.”

He has made 14 career starts against the Braves, going 3-3 with a 2.71 ERA. He has not faced Atlanta since September 2018, when he pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed no runs on two hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

Anderson has won three decisions in a row. In his most recent outing on May 4, he allowed only one run despite giving up five hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings to help the Braves earn a split of their four-game series at the New York Mets. Anderson has allowed seven runs (six earned) over 22 innings in his last four starts, a 2.45 ERA.

Anderson has made two career starts against the Red Sox, going 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA. He beat Boston on Sept. 1, 2020, by throwing six innings and allowing just two runs, striking out eight.

Atlanta continues to keep a close eye on Ronald Acuna Jr., who appeared to limp a bit when he rounded first base after a single in the fourth. The trainer worked on him between innings, and Acuna remained in right field. Acuna walked in the first inning and has reached base in a league-leading 24 straight games.

“They’re looking for every little nuance in him,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “They checked him out, and he obviously checked out OK. He said he felt good because they let him keep going.”

Snitker said Acuna will be checked again before the game on Wednesday. The Braves have the option of using Acuna as the designated hitter instead of in right field to ease the stress on his surgically repaired knee.

Boston’s J.D. Martinez picked up a hit in the ninth inning to go 1-for-5. He has a 12-game hitting streak and has reached base in a major-league-best 27 straight games dating to last season.

–Field Level Media

Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was honored with a slew of awards before Tuesday night’s 12-0 victory against Tampa Bay at Anaheim, Calif.

It might have been better to hold the ceremony before the two teams wrap up their three-game series on Wednesday night.

That’s because Ohtani (3-2, 3.08 ERA) will take the mound against a team he has dominated with his arm and bat. He has a tough act to follow after teammate Reid Detmers threw a no-hitter against the Rays on Tuesday.

Detmers walked one and struck out two in the first individual no-hitter in the majors this season.

Ohtani won the American League Most Valuable Player Award, the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award, the Silver Slugger Award and the Edgar Martinez Award for last season.

He might be adding to his list of achievements Wednesday as he makes his sixth start of the season against Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan (2-2, 3.06).

In two career starts against Tampa Bay, Ohtani has allowed only two runs in going 1-0. He has 16 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings.

Ohanti also has been stellar at the plate against the Rays. In 16 career games, he has a .417 batting average with eight home runs and 19 RBIs. Two of those home runs, including the first grand slam of his career, came Monday night.

Prior to that, Ohanti had been off to a relatively slow start. But Angels manager Joe Maddon said it was only a matter of time before Ohtani came around at the plate, including his ability to hit for power to the opposite field.

“He has looked better,” Maddon said “The ball has gone to left-center. He was just getting beneath everything, but now the angle is better off the bat. Wow, if we can keep him right there for several months.”

Add the fact that Ohanti is coming off one of the best pitching starts of his career — 11 strikeouts against Boston on Thursday — and a sweep by the Angels looks like a real possibility.

But McClanahan is the Rays’ ace and their best option to slow the high-scoring Angels, who also have benefited from three home runs by Mike Trout in the last two games.

If history is any indicator, McClanahan might be able to do that and help the Rays salvage a 10-game West Coast swing that started with six straight wins but has been followed by three straight losses.

In two career starts against the Angels, McClanahan is 1-0, having gone 10 innings while allowing three runs and six hits while striking out 12.

But McClanahan will need help from an offense that suddenly has gone quiet.

“It definitely is a punch in the gut,” Rays infielder Taylor Walls said of the no-hitter by Detmers. “It kind of takes a hit at your pride a little bit. But we’re going to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow the same way we did this morning, same way we’re going to do every day here on out. … Tomorrow, nobody will really care.”

The Rays were without one of their top offensive weapons on Tuesday. Outfielder Manuel Margot, who was named the American League’s Player of the Week for last week, sat out with a hamstring injury, and it’s unclear if he will be available Wednesday.

–Field Level Media

Starting pitchers Beau Brieske and Alex Faedo already have made their major-league debuts for the Detroit Tigers this season.

Left-hander Joey Wentz will join them in the fourth game of a five-game series against the visiting Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.

Wentz, acquired in a 2019 trade with the Atlanta Braves, underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020. He started 18 games at the Single-A and Double-A levels last season.

In five starts with Triple-A Toledo this spring, Wentz was 0-1 with a 4.12 ERA. He has 26 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings, including eight over four innings in his most recent start.

“Last start, I thought all my pitches were pretty good,” Wentz, 24, told the Detroit Free Press. “I was throwing four-seam, changeup, curveball, kind of added a cutter. I’m excited about that. … We talked about adding another breaking pitch that I’m going to throw for strikes. … I think it can be a big weapon for me.”

Wentz would probably have remained at Triple-A longer, but Casey Mize and Matt Manning are rehabbing from injuries.

“In the strike zone, his stuff plays at every level against any lineup,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s got a really dynamic fastball.”

Wentz feels he’s ready to go.

“You hear guys talk about being ahead in the count, and I think that could potentially be the biggest thing,” he said. “Outside of that, just trying to control the emotions and treat it as another baseball game. I’ve played a lot of them.”

The Tigers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 6-0 victory in the opener of a doubleheader on Tuesday. Then, they were nearly shut out for the third time in four games. They scored on a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning of a 4-1 loss in the nightcap.

Second baseman Jonathan Schoop showed some signs of coming out of his season-long slump, collecting three hits in the two games, including a homer.

“These guys need hits,” Hinch said. “You can encourage them, you can hug them, you can love on them, but what they need is hits. For him to have a day like that, hopefully Jonathan can go home knowing he’s on the right track.”

Oakland has won two of the first three games of the series after losing nine straight.

Left-hander Zach Logue (1-1, 2.84 ERA) will make his third career appearance and second major-league start for the A’s. He gave up two solo homers to Minnesota in five innings on Friday while notching five strikeouts.

Oakland had some nervous moments in the doubleheader opener. Left fielder Chad Pinder and shortstop Elvis Andrus collided while going after Willi Castro’s bloop single. Pinder was slow to get up but remained in the game. Neither played in the nightcap.

“Hopefully, we escaped significant injuries from both those guys, but obviously, we’ll have to wait on Chad to see how he’s doing,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “I imagine they’ll both be pretty sore. Any time there’s a collision with someone diving toward the infield, with the infielder running in that direction, you fear that there’s significant trauma to the face and that area. … It’s scary running out there because you do think about the worst-case scenario when you’re on your way.”

–Field Level Media

The New York Mets have done all the little things on their way to reaching big numbers faster than any National League team.

The visiting Mets will look to lock up another series win Wednesday night when they oppose the Washington Nationals in the middle game of a three-game set between the NL East rivals.

Tylor Megill (4-1, 2.43 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Mets against Aaron Sanchez (1-2, 8.56) in a battle of right-handers.

The Mets won the series opener 4-2 on Tuesday night as Carlos Carrasco tossed 6 2/3 strong innings and James McCann’s tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the sixth inning capped a three-run rally.

New York — which is 8-0-1 through its first nine series this season and has an NL-high 21 wins — displayed good fundamentals both before and after taking the lead on Tuesday.

With two outs and two on in the fourth inning, Washington’s Maikel Franco doubled to deep right, scoring Josh Bell with the game’s first run. However, Yadiel Hernandez, trying to score from first, was thrown out following a perfect set of relays from right fielder Starling Marte to second baseman Jeff McNeil to McCann, who caught the ball with Hernandez still at least 15 feet from the plate.

The Mets erased the 2-0 deficit in the sixth when they scored three times despite collecting just one extra-base hit — McNeil’s game-tying, two-run double.

Once in front, New York shined on defense again.

Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor robbed Franco of a hit with a sprawling dive in the seventh, an inning that ended with McCann throwing out Dee Strange-Gordon trying to steal second. In the eighth, New York third baseman Eduardo Escobar, who was positioned near the shortstop spot in a shift, raced close to the visiting dugout to snare an inning-ending popup by Juan Soto.

“Just have players that embrace that — they came with that skill set,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “‘Mac’ had a great night. Great baserunning. Great tags. We had a big relay, and (Escobar) made a big catch of a popup out of the shift. And I know I’m going to forget five or six things.”

The loss Tuesday continued a frustrating and mistake-filled season for the Nationals, who have lost five of six and have the second-worst record in the NL, ahead of only the Cincinnati Reds.

The Mets’ final run in the ninth was unearned thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Franco — the 25th error of the season for the Nationals, who are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third-most errors in baseball. Washington’s pitchers also have posted the third-highest ERA (4.85) while issuing the second-most walks (127, including seven on Tuesday).

“We’ve got to limit the mistakes,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot every time we go out there, and we’ve got so many walks and so many errors. We’ve just got to clean that up.”

Megill absorbed his first loss of the season in his most recent start, when he allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings as the Mets fell 9-2 to the Atlanta Braves on May 4.

Sanchez took a defeat on Thursday, when he gave up seven runs (six earned) over 4 1/3 innings as the Nationals fell 9-7 to the Colorado Rockies.

Megill is 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA in three career starts against the Nationals. Sanchez has never opposed the Mets.

–Field Level Media